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Steve Jobs' Head and the iPhone girl's single
Ever wonder what's in Steve Jobs' head? If so, then this song is for you. Jonathan Mann is a singer-songwriter who's been doing a song a day since the beginning of last year, and he wrote this little ditty about the crazy, mad genius of one S. Jobs. Mann's a big Apple fan, apparently; he also posted a video that was completely shot and edited on an iPhone 4, and he wrote another song about a charity iPhone app. It's all pretty catchy stuff. And for those of you following the story of the Korean girl who nabbed a record deal by posting a video of herself playing with a bunch of iPhones, 9to5Mac has posted her first single. Kim Yeo-hee is her name, and the song is ... well, not exactly like the iPhone-driven tune that made her famous. I don't remember her rapping at all in the original video. Good on her for following her dreams, though. Glad to see the iPhone has helped yet another Apple fan achieve a little bit of success. [via Cult of Mac]
Ducati creates a short film with the iPhone 4
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.
YouTube uploads from iPhone 4 are downsized
Updated 5:50pm: Commenters are right, emailing the video from your iPhone has the same size restriction. The original version of this post had the correct info, but an editing error mixed up the email limitation. Yesterday when we posted that iMovie for iPhone 4 was available on the App Store, we mentioned an important limitation on the resolution of the videos you can share with the iPhone. An Apple support document specifies that while iMovie can export a full 720p HD video if you send the video via email or import it back to iPhoto, movies uploaded from YouTube, MMS or MobileMe Gallery will be downsized to a maximum resolution of 568x320. Since then, users like Chris Pirillo have started using the app and have confirmed the restriction. Chris asked us if there are any iPhone-only workarounds that don't require transferring the video off to your Mac or PC. Unfortunately, it looks like the only way you will be able to share a full 720p HD version of iMovie videos is to transfer the file to your computer before uploading it to YouTube or any other sharing service from there. Ironically, while a second support document mentions this limitation is in place to improve upload performance, you are still restricted to 568x320 even when you're connected to WiFi -- perhaps the very same WiFi connection you will now use to upload the video from your computer. Chris also mentioned he and other users are reporting issues logging into YouTube with both YouTube and Google credentials on a number of iOS devices. We're not sure why this issue is happening, but a few people on the Mac Rumors forums are suggesting that you make sure your Google credentials are associated with your YouTube login. You may also want to verify that your email address is confirmed in the email options to possibly eliminate the problem.
iMovie for iPhone 4 is now available
iMovie for iPhone 4 arrived on the App Store tonight, just hours before the official 7:00am launch of the iPhone 4. As promised during the WWDC keynote, the iMovie app brings the ability to edit and share videos directly to the iPhone. From transitions to titles, to adding background music to your clips, iMovie promises to offer powerful editing features that you don't typically find on a mobile device. Along with the release of the app, Apple has posted a list of frequently asked questions, as well as instructions for exporting videos from iMovie. Curiously, while the instructions detail how to export your videos in full HD (at a resolution of 720p), the summary at the top of the page suggests that your video will be scaled down to 568x320 if uploaded to YouTube, MobileMe, or sent via e-mail from the phone. A third support document posted this evening further confirms this to be the case. Since I'm not one of the lucky customers who already have their iPhone 4 in hand, I can't directly test this, but it seems that Apple has spelled it out pretty clearly in their support pages. While this won't be a deal breaker for everyone, I'm sure that many HD aficionados out there will be longing for the ability to directly upload HD video to YouTube from their phones. As it stands now, you would have to sync the video to your computer, and then upload it from there for maximum quality. It is worth noting, however, that this limitation only applies to using the sharing functionality in the Camera Roll on your iPhone; any third-party apps that can upload video should be able to take advantage of the full resolution copy. So aside from the resizing, iMovie for iPhone 4 looks promising. And at US$4.99, it is an inexpensive way to extend the video capabilities of your phone, allowing you to quickly create and share movies of friends, family, or special events while on the go. If you're picking up a new iPhone tomorrow, this is definitely something to check out.
iMovie hits iTunes App Store, only for iPhone 4 (update)
You may not have an iPhone 4 yet -- unless you lucked out on delivery, you're probably still waiting in line -- but if you did receive Cupertino's latest opinion polarizing handset, you might have noticed it doesn't come with a tool to edit all the 720p footage of jealous friends that you just shot. Thankfully that can be remedied with a portrait of President Lincoln, as iMovie for iPhone just went live -- head on over to the App Store and drop your $4.99. Update: Oddly enough, we're not actually seeing iMovie in the App Store on our iPhone 4 -- only in the desktop client. [Thanks, Joel]
YouTube Editor enables cloud-based combining of clips, trimming of masterpieces
Too many YouTube clips in your library? Not enough cheddar to get a decent piece of video editing software on your PC? Fret not, as the World's Greatest Time Waster has just rolled out a new web-based Video Editor that enables users to combine clips, trim segments, add audio and then preview the results before finalizing. Hey, Numa Numa kid -- get on those mashups, pronto!
iSaidWhat?! lets you put a twist on words
Arguments happen, words are thrown, and words are sometimes misconstrued. "Stop putting words in my mouth!", someone might say to you. With Tapparatus's iSaidWhat?! [iTunes link], now you can put words in someone else's mouth. Well, sort of. In addition to serving as a basic voice recorder, iSaidWhat?! also allows you to cut and rearrange audio snippets. Take the following interaction between Jerry and Dorothy: Jerry: I love you. You complete me. If I had just... Dorothy: Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at hello. You had me at hello. Using iSaidWhat?!, you could break down recorded audio into blocks of words or into individual words. So, the above conversation can rearranged into the following: Jerry: You love me. I complete you. Dorothy: Shut up. Just shut up. The app is very polished and a delight to use. Users are presented with two tabs, one a list of their recordings and the other a list of their arrangements. A snappy and intuitive interface allows you to mark in- and out-points; and after you've completed marking these points, you're asked what you'd like to name it. After completing an audio compilation, you can share it with the world. The app allows you to share your creation via email (which it encodes as a .wav file), over the network, Facebook and Twitter. iSaidWhat?! is available for purchase at the iTunes store for USD $1.99.
NextDimension RVE portable video editing machine packs an LCD on a tower
Apparently that whole "slap an LCD on the side of a tower" thing is going alright for NextComputing. The NextDimension RVE is a bit more humble than the CinematographHD, though it should be able to handle even the most strenuous video editing tasks. Aside from the 17-inch 1,920 x 1,200 resolution panel plastered on the side, the "portable" tower houses single or dual 2.5GHz quad-core Intel processors, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 1.28TB of RAID storage, NVIDIA GeForce / Quadro FX graphics, a leather handle for portability and an extensive array of input / output sockets. The entire package measures in at 5.69- x 11.44- x 16.8-inches and weighs "just" 22-pounds -- too bad it'll take $6,380 to get one to your door.
Symbian S60 HTML Editor: one less reason to own a PC
Okay, so it's not like you're going to want to build entire websites from scratch using this application, but it's still nice to have in a pinch. The S60 HTML Editor requires only an S60-based smartphone, Python and the appuifw2 extension module; from there, users can indulge in simple HTML editing for tweaks on the run. Before you laugh it off, how do you know this post wasn't hand-coded using this very program? Huh? You're right, it wasn't.[Via IntoMobile]
MAGIX intros Video Pro X editing software with Blu-ray support
Looking to edit some of that sweet, luscious 1080p footage and burn to Blu-ray, are you? If you're feverishly nodding your head up and down, and you're all about getting a bargain, listen up. MAGIX has just introduced its Video Pro X professional video editing software, and with it comes Blu-ray support and a $199.99 introductory price for current MAGIX users ($249.99 for everyone else). The program imports video material from XDCAM camcorders and can natively edit AVCHD material, and of course, users can create 1080p discs with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound if you've got a few BD-Rs laying around waiting to be used. If you're not already married to some other brand, you can download this one today and get to cutting.%Gallery-37644%
Ask Engadget: Best laptop for multimedia editing?
With the world seemingly focusing all of its heated attention onto the world of teeny, tiny netbooks, Seamus is turning his eye elsewhere. Have a look at his very important inquiry below:"I'm a college student who's not concerned with owning the next smallest thing in laptops. I don't have as much time for video games anymore, but wouldn't mind being able to play them on occasion. However, I love experimenting with bits of movie editing, Photoshop, and recording drum tracks. Is it too much to ask to be able to do these things, at least decently, on a laptop? Looking to spend under $2k if possible, and battery life isn't all that important."We'd say it's very possible, the question is: which machine is best for the challenge? That's where you come in -- after giving your input, send in a question of your own at ask at engadget dawt com.
How to create your own Toast DVD menu style
A while back reader Michael Coyle was nice enough to send us this write-up on how to customize Leopard's Guest account, and just recently he sent along another guide that you might not need right away, but will come in handy when you really need it. He's got an in-depth look at how to create a custom menu style when authoring a DVD in Toast Titanium 8.As he says, the default styles that come with the application are a little less than formal, so if you want to create a professional menu for the DVD that fits your needs, this will show you how. As far as I can tell, the style is just a Photoshop file with various layers for the DVD to use as a menu (selected, frames for videos and the border around them, and so on); so the trick is finding the right layers to edit and leaving everything else alone (so nothing breaks).If you've got some DVD authoring in your future, and plan to use Toast to get it all done, there you go.
Add/Edit calendar functionality coming to the iPod touch?
Come on, you expect us to believe someone on a forum thread saying that Steve Jobs emailed him directly to say that they'd be adding a feature to one of Apple's products? Well, if that's all it takes, we'll get to it next time. With the evidence being a screengrab of an email from "sjobs@apple.com," David Jearly at the MacRumors forum claims to have definitive proof that the lack of user editing of calendars on the iPod touch is a "bug" that will be fixed in the next update. To us, the absence of an editing option is more than a simple bug, but if it's getting added, then who cares why it wasn't there in the first place. Of course, David Jearly's gonna get himself well and truly stuck in the dunce corner if this doesn't come to fruition.[Thanks, David and Mike]
iMovie '08: It's not that bad
iMovie '08 has gotten a bad rap lately so I decided to put it through its paces and see what all the fuss was about. Now, I'm not a professional video editor -- just your average Josephine -- but, frankly, I think the new iMovie kinda rocks.
BBEdit version 8.7 released
BBEdit 8.7, the latest version of the triple-A HTML editor, has been released.Update: OK, so the reason I originally thought that all the "new" 8.7 features sounded familiar is because I actually was looking at the release list for version 8.5. The 8.7 release notice is here, and it includes Lua programming support, an option to remember which documents and browsers are open after closing BBEdit, and a Python language module and lots of other fixes and improvements. Sorry about the mistake, and thanks to all our commenters (and to Bare Bones Software themselves) for the heads up.8.7 is a free update for 8.5 and 8.6 customers. If you haven't picked up BBEdit yet, you can try out the free demo here.
??bercaster, all-in-one podcasting tool receives new features, enhancements
It's been a while since we've written about Übercaster, the all-in-one tool for recording, editing and publishing podcasts, but that doesn't mean its developer, Eberhard Rensch, hasn't been hard at work on it. Through updates over the last couple of months, Übercaster v1.1.5 has gained a ton of handy new features and polish, such as: Delete and Close Gap: Instantly re-join two pieces of a track after cutting out a portion of the middle. A big time saver when editing out the false starts and other mistakes. Reset Playhead on Stop: An option to automatically return the playhead to its original starting point. Another huge timesaver when reviewing a specific clip. Split All Tracks: Splits every track at the playhead, regardless of which tracks are selection. New PleasantConnect version: An update to the Mac OS X kernel extension included with Übercaster that allows for pulling off tricks like recording Skype conversations in separate tracks, with you on one and any caller(s) on another. New progress bar in Dock icon: This is great for a real-time yet unobtrusive display of a podcast's upload progress. Sparkle integration for automatic updates: Andy Matuschak's popular Sparkle framework has made to Übercaster, providing wonderful automatic software updates that so many apps are enjoying. This isn't all though; there are far more new features and bug fixes listed in just the last two updates than I can fit in this post, so check out the Übercaster changelog or grab the latest version yourself. If that updated kernel extension can fix my problems and allow me to record multi-track Skype conversations, Rensch will certainly be seeing a $79.95 purchase from me.
Sony intros VAIO RM1N HD editing workstation
Sony looks to have heeded the calls of those bemoaning the single Core 2 Duo processor powering its otherwise top-end VAIO RM HD editing workstation, as its now taken things all the way up to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor in its latest RM1N model. As before, this one boasts a dual-box design, with the main PC components housed in one box, and the optical drives (including a Blu-ray one), hard drives, and memory card reader stuffed in the other. In addition to that new quad-core processor, the RM1N also gets a new NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card, along with the same 2GB of DDR2 memory and dual 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives as before. Also getting a boost is the price, with it now running just shy of $5,000.[Via Reg Hardware]
TUAW Exclusive: Video of Pixelmator in action
Click To Play The moment I saw John Gruber link Pixelmator - a powerful new Core Image-based image editor with support for layers, a wide variety of tools, iLife/iPhoto, Automator and more - I had to get a closer look. I remember the days of Apple hyping Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and all the power of Core Image, and then never seeing a formidable editor make use of them. Sure there are a few apps that make use of Core Image in one way or another, but nothing really struck me as truly leveraging all there was to leverage in Apple's Core image.While Pixelmator may technically be vaporware according to Gruber, I managed to snag an exclusive demonstration video of the app in action from its developers, brothers Aidas and Saulius Dailide (who you might be interested to know also founded Jumsoft). The demo showcases some impressive Pixelmator features, including working with multiple layers and objects, opening Photoshop files and moving layers from one image to another, taking a picture with an iSight camera and embedding it into the current working image, and even some slick blending modes.From what I see here, I can definitely say 'wow', especially since Pixelmator is expected to ship in late July for only $59. Stay tuned for more info as soon as we can nab it.
TUAW Tip: Preview has basic text, cropping and editing tools
We sing the praises of plasq's fantastic private beta Skitch tool for making it dead simple to capture, edit and share screenshots with a good variety of online communities, but Mac OS X's own Preview app for viewing images and PDFs isn't without at least a couple of these basic tools. These definitely are not on par with Skitch's capabilities, but as you can see, Preview offers text and oval circling annotation tools, and that Select Tool can help you crop an image (or even multiple pages of a PDF). As far as getting your work out of Preview and off to wherever it's going, the best you can do is save a new copy of the image and manually move or upload it, but hey: if you don't need all the features Skitch has to offer at it's yet-to-be-set commercial price, Preview just might do the job for you.
TUAW Exclusive: Skitch screenshot gallery
We've been blogging Skitch, a new 'hybrid' photo editing and web services tool from plasq (makers of Comic Life), since Scott first met and fell in love with it at Macworld 07. Using the app through its development, it's clear that Skitch is going to knock people's socks off, with a well-executed blend of desktop editing and integration with web services like Plasq's new MySkitch and Flickr. For example: a major new feature in an upcoming public beta (that's right, I said 'public': join the mailing list for your chance to get a copy) includes iPhoto and Aperture integration: Simply double-click an item from the library panel shown here to begin applying all manners of Skitch editing. Another feature that brings the 'hybrid' element to the table is Skitch's tight integration with web services. Skitch can send pics to FTP, .Mac and even Flickr accounts, but it also integrations with a new MySkitch service that will debut. MySkitch does a lot of interesting things, like giving you embed code for zoomable thumbnails (ideal for the likes of eBay and blogs with thin columns), a direct link for sending in email and even forum-friendly embed code. Skitch doesn't stop there though: you can also remove images from these web services directly from within Skitch, effectively making it a one-stop management shop for your images both local and otherwise.That's enough blabbing about features for now though. The folks at plasq were kind enough to allow us to publish an exclusive Skitch screenshot gallery, and published we have. Check out more screenshots of Skitch's good side, and don't forget to hit up plasq's mailing list for a chance to snag your own copy when they release an upcoming public beta. %Gallery-2528%
