FoundFootage
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Found Footage: The Story of Macintosh
Denver-area Mac consultant Mike Kimble is no stranger to Apple; he worked at an Apple reseller prior to the introduction of the Mac in 1984, and he's been involved with Macs and other Apple products ever since. Mike recently found several old Apple tapes that were sent to his business back around the Mac intro, and his description of one of them says it all: "I found this VHS cassette while cleaning my office this week. This "Found Footage" comes from a video tape I received from Apple back in 1984 when the original 128K Mac was introduced. It was part of the authorized dealer training videos given to each store to help them become familiar with the Macintosh. You will see a very young Burrell Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, Phil Gibbons, Mitch Kapor, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. You really get a good feel for how proud and excited these people were for the creation of something special. Little did they know how much they were about to change the world..." My personal favorite scene is the one where Bill Gates is sitting with a 128K Mac on his desk. The video is divided into two parts; the second can be viewed by clicking the "read more" link below. Enjoy this trip down memory lane!
Found Footage: Steadicam releasing Smoothee for iPhone 3GS
In the world of professional film and video photography, the Steadicam stabilizing camera mount revolutionized tracking shots by allowing a camera operator to "hand hold" a camera, but keep the camera steady. This Academy Award-winning invention is now available for the rest of us in the form of the Tiffen Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 3GS. Designed specifically for the iPhone 3GS, the Steadicam Smoothee weighs a scant 25 ounces and features the same counterweighted construction of the professional models. While no price has been announced for the Smoothee, it's sure to be much less expensive than the pro video and film versions that sell for $50,000 - $60,000. The promotional video above has several examples of the type of smooth tracking shots that are the signature of Steadicam movies. The fact that Tiffen has chosen the iPhone for a Steadicam model appears to show that the company sees the potential of citizen journalism and movie-making with the platform. One of these would be great for doing TUAW TV Live from Ustream Broadcaster on the floor of Macworld Expo 2010... [via Engadget]
Found Footage: LEGO steering wheel for the iPhone
You can make an iPhone dock out of LEGOs, so why not a steering wheel? Check out the above video to see the LEGO-built steering wheel in action. And, if you can't get enough of LEGOs on your iPhone, give LEGO Photo [iTunes link] and LEGO Batman: Gotham City Games [iTunes link] a try. [Via Cult of Mac]
Found Footage: That sinking, gonna-need-a-new-phone feeling
What other recent TV show (Big Bang Theory aside) has given geeks as much cred as Chuck? The hourlong spy-dramedy returned with first-run episodes this week, but promptly threw a wet blanket on our enjoyment by... well, just look. No matter what Andy Ihnatko's experiments demonstrated, I don't think a pile of white rice is going to fix this. Past episodes of Chuck have featured an all-knowing classic Mac, a thinly veiled dig at our favorite iCEO and a weaponized G5 tower, much to our delight. We've been loyal fans, NBC, but we must protest the wanton cruelty shown to an innocent smartphone in this scene: it's brutal, it's damp, and it will not stand. [Apologies to our international readers for the US-only Hulu clip. Once there's a geographically agnostic version of the video available, we'll link to it.]
Found footage: 6 iPhones almost make a full keyboard
A piano has 88 keys, and this arrangement of iPhones comes pretty close (we counted 84). The pianist has six iPhones laid out in a row starting from a low C and progressing through 5 octaves. As a result, he can play a nice piece of music on very tiny, touch-sensitive keys. That takes a good bit of dexterity. He has obviously been doing his Hanon exercises. There are a number of piano apps in the App Store, including Pocket Piano [iTunes link], Virtuoso Piano [iTunes link] and Mini Piano [iTunes link]. We can't tell which app is being used here, but the UI closely resembles that of Mini Piano. Budding artists may wish to practice piano with GarageBand '09 or work on sight reading with Key Wiz [iTunes link]. [Via Swiss Miss]
Found footage: History of Apple in 2 minutes
Here's a great video assembled by applemctom that presents the history of Apple (more or less) in two minutes. There are some huge leaps in time and some obvious errors (Apple Mac II? MacIntosh?), but that's OK. It isn't easy to cram decades of history into 120 seconds. There's much nostalgia for old-timers like me, as the Pippin and Newton make an appearance. Though I still use my Newt, I've never had the pleasure of a face-to-face meeting with a Pippin. The dark days described in the video (the early 90's after Steve left) is exactly when I started using Macs in earnest. It's amazing that I stayed a customer after bloodying my hands on a 7100's beastly innards. The video ends with the introduction of the iPhone, so don't expect to see anything beyond that. Still, it's a bit of fun. Check it out.
Found Footage: iPhone costumes are either genius or deeply misguided
There's a part of me that wants to tell these guys to apply their wild, inventive energy to more productive pursuits. And yet... there's another bit of reptile brain that simply sits and watches, in awe. Thanks to John for the tip! [via MacRumors Forums]
Found Footage: The iPhone sonic ruler
Have you ever had a device that you wanted to make just a little bit more sonic? Have you ever been up late, measuring rooms and thought: "Could I approach this task with an iPhone? Sonically?" Fortunately for you, the good people at Laan Consulting have already thought of this. They've anticipated this eventuality and are now shipping the iPhone Sonar Ruler [iTunes link] for just a buck on the iTunes Store. Yes, these good folk have imbued the iPhone with sonic goodness. As the video on the next page shows, the application sends short pulses and measures their return delay. Sure, you could go out to Office Depot and spend twenty bucks getting a far more reliable, dedicated unit but isn't it more fun to help support iPhone devs while really pushing the device beyond its design intent? And don't forget: Bananas are good. They are excellent sources of potassium. Thanks to Neekers
Found Footage: Good grief, NCIS, do you take us for fools?
Resident NCIS geek Tim McGee (the same character who, in a past episode, managed to download a taxicab security video directly onto his iPhone) unpacks a boxful of his childhood computer gear; he proudly announces the computer you see above as his "Mac SE," when you don't need HDTV to know that it's a Mac Classic -- but if you do have an HDTV, you can clearly see "Macintosh Classic" printed on the front of the machine. McGee either can't read, or he has a delusional disorder of some kind that prevents him from properly recognizing vintage Mac gear. Later in the episode, he gets taunted for his childhood Macloverdom. It's just trouble from Jump Street on down.McGee also unloads a PowerBook Duo and a nondescript PC laptop from his magic box. You can see the entire video, including the SE/Classic flub, in the continuation of this post.
Found Footage: A fanboy's Mac mini concept
The Mac mini has an amazing following. It's a great machine for switchers who want to use their existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor, there are companies devoted to using them as small colocated servers, and the mini is the machine to use for all sorts of cool hacks.TUAW reader, designer, and Mac mini fanboy Sait Alayali decided that it's time for a new look, so he created his own conceptual design for a new mini. Rather than the little flat box we know and love, it's designed like a right angle. It has a low-speed fan for quiet and effective cooling, a design that makes it simple to swap out drives, and it can be placed on a surface in a number of ways. Call me old-fashioned, but I like the "boxy" look of the existing Mac mini. They're easier to stack and there are plenty of matching peripherals. I'd prefer to see a new Mac mini made with some of the MacBook Air tech so it could be thinner and smaller. How 'bout you? Leave a comment with your ideas for a new Mac mini design.The New Mac Mini Concept from Sait Alanyali on Vimeo.
Found Footage: live rig with TouchOSC
I recently offered a little introduction to integrating TouchOSC with Logic. In response, TUAW reader Tom Phillipson sent us a link to a video of his own integration of TouchOSC into his live setup. He modded a Novation ReMOTE 25SL Compact, extending its functionality via TouchOSC on his iPod touch. Check out the video to see (and hear) it controlling Ableton Live and an Access TI Snow. Thanks for sharing, Tom!
Found Footage: Dream of iPhone external keyboard lives on
Since the iPhone's introduction at Macworld in 2007, a large number of people have wanted a tactile keyboard. So far, Apple has not obliged. So, one iPhone owner took the initiate to make his own iPhone keyboard. Using a bit of Ruby code on a jailbroken iPhone, this user is able to connect a Palm keyboard via a 30-pin Dock Connector. The end result is an iPhone with a tactile keyboard. While we can't vouch for the validity of this video, it does look like a cool hack.[via Engadget]On an iPhone or iPod touch? Click here to watch this YouTube video.
Found Footage: SCOTTEVEST Woz-i-sodes
Apple co-founder Steve "The Woz" Wozniak must have a lot of time on his hands. He's acting in online ads for SCOTTEVEST, the company that makes those great geek clothes with all sorts of pockets, cable runs, etc...Two Woz-i-sodes are already posted on the SCOTTEVEST site; one titled "Return of the Woz", featuring Woz as Lord Dirth Wozniak (see picture above), while the other "A Fish Story" has Woz using a 1G iPod nano as a handy fishing accessory. And of course, those geeky clothes products from SCOTTEVEST are featured heavily throughout the videos. Additional Woz-i-sodes will be posted weekly, giving you an excuse to work on your Christmas list and have some fun in the process. Click here to view these cinematic blunders wonders.Thanks to Kevin for the tip!
Found Footage: Mac vs. PC musical
The Jets and the Sharks it ain't, but this musical slasher-fest seems to get to the heart of the Mac vs. PC debate. I won't deny that I enjoy the MacBook Air as katana, but I think it's the final message that's really important: can't we all just get along? Update: There is some over-the-top blood and guts gore in the clip.[via Gizmodo]
Found Footage: Apple sounds "song"
Some might argue that the Apple sound effects found in the "Sound" preference pane can get a little annoying over time. However, a YouTube user has turned those "annoying" tweets and chirps into somewhat of a song. The song project, created in GarageBand, is available for download from the creator's website. While there, you can also download an m4a audio file of the song -- who knows, this might make a really good iPhone ringtone!Of course, this guy isn't the first to pull such a stunt, as a Windows version has existed for a while. Now, if you want that on your iPhone, we've got to talk.
VMWare offers free training videos on YouTube
VMWare has started publishing short, but informative YouTube videos demonstrating various tasks in the new version of Fusion for the Mac. One of the videos (shown above, YouTube link here) shows how to install Windows XP in a new virtual machine in Fusion 2.0. If you don't want to watch low-quality YouTube videos, you can send an email to downloadrequest@vmware.com. An auto responder will return a message with links to download the high-quality versions of the videos. Thanks, Jason!
Found Footage: Misleading iPhone ads?
A slight kerfuffle has kicked up in the last few days about whether Apple's iPhone 3G advertising is too misleading. 37Signals raised the complaint that a recent iPhone 3G ad (YouTube link) set up false expectations, as it shows an iPhone loading a web page, finding a location on Google Maps, and downloading an attachment at lightning speed. Now comes this nice side by side demonstration video as embedded above.What do you think? Is this false advertising on Apple's part, or should everyone just know that TV ads are always unrealistic?[via DF/Gizmodo]
Found Footage: 'I Am Rich' walk through
[YouTube link] Apparently, eight people actually bought the famed "I Am Rich" iPhone application. If you weren't rich stupid lucky enough to buy the app, or if you are merely curious what the fuss was all about -- the above "guided tour" is for you. I'll admit, I've found this whole saga pretty unfunny thus far. Don't misunderstand me, I get the joke, the whole thing has just struck me as easy and lacking any real point. Call me puerile, but I had to laugh at this video. The line that got me, "notice how 'deserve' is fashionably [misspelled]." Classic. Thanks Neil!
Found Footage: Clearing the way for the iPhone 3G
Watch this video at your own risk ... it truly is painful to watch as this iPhone gets a bullet right through the home button. I can't help but think if there was a much more humane way of getting rid of an old iPhone. Online auction sites or maybe an online classified ads site might be nice. Hmm ... yeah, if only those existed. On an iPhone? Click this link to watch the YouTube video.Thanks, Det!
Found Footage: Quicksilver Google Tech Talk
We here at TUAW are big fans of Quicksilver, the inscrutable OS X utility that you really have to use to understand (and even then some folks still don't get it). The developer of Quicksilver, Nicholas Jitkoff, recently gave a Tech Talk at his employer (some search company or another) in which he explains Quicksilver and the thought process behind its development.[via 43Folders]
