Information - Geek News Central

PopClip A Productivity Tool for the Mac

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 7:01 PM on April 25, 2013

PopClip If you use a Mac and want to increase your productivity one of the applications I recommend taking a look at is PopClip. PopClip is like cut and paste on steroid. PopClip is available in the Mac app store and on-line. Once you download and install the application it will appear in your menu bar as a black and white rectangle. Now when you highlight a piece of text a small menu bar will pop up above the selected text. By default it shows copy or paste, correct spelling on misspelled words, and define selected words. PopClip will also detect links and email addresses and let you open or copy them, and can start a web search for anything you’ve selected.

In default mode PopClip isn’t that exciting its real power are the extensions that are available for it. Some of the extensions that are available are add a note various application including Evernote, Nvalt or Notepad. Send tweet to not only thru Twitter but also thru other applications such as Tweetbot or Buffer. You can also use it to the send a piece of text to various getting thing done apps like Omnifocus, Things and the Reminder App. PopClip also has other capabilities you can use it to search for a product on Amazon, find a piece of music in Spotify, or search for a video on YouTube. These are just some of the things that you can do using PopClip, the whole list of extensions are available on the PopClip Extension Page. Normally you use the mouse to activate PopClip however there is an Apple Script you can install to activate it using a keyboard shortcut. PopClip is available in the Mac App store for $4.99. If you want to try it out there is a free trial version available through the website.

Tags: application, mac, PopClip, productivity

Posted in application, Information, mac

3 Comments

Robot Underpants #98 – 04.24.13

Posted by Langley at 11:27 PM on April 24, 2013

Mat “Langley” Luschek, Eric Rice, and “Starman” Michael Gaines talk swearing newscasters, Star Trek, Robocop News, Movie news, Ghostbusters, Comets crashing to Earth, Doctor Who news and Langley tries his hand at a commercial. Listen to that disaster! AND MORE!

* Walmart for Superman Tickets

* People mad at Zach Braff

* Wild Things 2 to be Based on Amanda Knox (Maybe?)

* Vacation Sequel/Reboot Delayed

* Petition to Save Futurama (Again)

* River Song, Captain Jack and Langley all have the same birthday; Want spinoff.

Podcast (robota): Play in new window | Download | Embed

Posted in Information, underpants

6 Comments

Swype is Out of Beta

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 2:14 PM on April 24, 2013

Swype Swype came out of beta today. If you are unfamiliar with Swype it is an alternative keyboard for Android. One of the reasons I love Android is the ability to find the keyboard that you like. The Swype keyboard has several modes, which they named, the Typer, the Tapper, the Swyp’er and the Dictator. Typer are those people who use both hands to type and don’t look at the results, (your typing teacher is beaming), Tappers look at the results as they type, Swype’er swipe from one letter to the next, and Dictators like to dictate their messages. Swype primary method is swiping. If you are like me and grew up learning to type on a typewriter, swiping can take some time to get use to. The key is not to think too much and just let your fingers swipe. I find if I start thinking about what I am swiping I tend to make more mistakes. Just start swiping and the app will predicts what you are trying to type. Yes, sometimes it will predict incorrectly, but over time it will get better the more you use it. You can easily go from swiping to typing or dictating depending on your mode.

Swype was brought by Nuance in October 2011. Nuance is the maker of Dragon Dictate the application that allows you to dictate your messages. If you get tired of swiping then Swype voice dictation option is available to you. Because is based on Nuance it does recognize your voice fairly well. Swype learns your tendencies the more you use it. It will pick up words that you use all time like your name or the city you live in, etc. If you connect your social networks Facebook, Twitter and Google Swype will personalize your usages. Swype also supports dialects and will load local words.

Swype is available in the Google Play Store at .99 cents for a limited time. There is also a 30 day free trial version available. I recommend trying the 30 day trial version first, I think if you give it a chance you will end up getting the full version before the 30 day trial version is over.

Tags: Android, beta, keyboard, swype, version

Posted in Android, application, Information

3 Comments

Finally Mobile Streaming Becomes Truly Practical

Posted by tomwiles at 8:05 PM on April 23, 2013

I remember driving around back in the early 1980’s dreaming of what it might be like if I could listen to what I wanted when I wanted to. Back in those days, in many areas of the country, there was nothing to listen to but farm reports and hog prices. AM and FM stations would quickly fade in and out. Driving cross-country it was necessary to constantly change stations as they faded in and out, often vainly searching for something worthwhile to listen to.

When podcasting came along in 2004, in many ways it was the answer to that dream. Suddenly there was new content to listen to, on demand, on a wide variety of topics. It had to be downloaded and put onto a player in advance.

The past few years I’ve been experimenting with mobile streaming. For a long time, it just wasn’t practical in rural areas. Pandora would generally work better than all the other streaming services, but attempting to stream regular radio stations or even podcasts was generally not going to work.

However, now things have changed once again. With the widespread deployment of LTE mobile networks, successful casual streaming all kinds of different audio is not only possible, but practical in most of the areas I’m driving in. This opens up yet another new world of possibility.

Podcasting itself is a good case in point for something that came together because enough bandwidth was available. MP3 files had been around for a long time. Computers had already had the capability of recording digital audio for quite a number of years. RSS had been around for a while. All of these things converged and became something new.

Today I’m spending a lot of time with the Stitcher app on my Google Nexus 7 here in my truck, suction-cupped to the truck’s windshield and connected to stereo speakers via Bluetooth. Stitcher makes a great streaming mobile radio service. Now that the mobile data network is good enough in most areas to make streaming practical in the real world, new possibilities have opened up.

All of these things have been around a while. Stitcher is not new. The streaming concept has been around for quite a number of years. Podcasting as well has been around for probably at least nine years. What is different is now I don’t have to fuss with downloading them ahead of time. I really like the way stitcher lets you search for a keyword or two and then sequentially plays the different podcasts that showed up in the search. I find myself on a voyage of discovery, bumping in to podcasts I’ve never heard of. Because everything is on demand, like watching Netflix or Amazon streaming video, if I find an audio podcast I don’t like I simply skip ahead to the next one.

I can’t predict exactly how this will eventually develop. However, I can say, now that the mobile data bandwidth is a reality, there’s something here, and it’s pretty interesting. It beats the heck out of listening to farm reports or hog prices. It also beats having to fumble around with an iPod and auxiliary audio cables.

Tags: app, google, Mobile, Nexus 7, stitcher

Posted in Android, google, Information, ipod, Netflix, Streaming, tablet

5 Comments

StreamVu Producer Station Review

Posted by geeknews at 10:25 PM on April 21, 2013

Over the past several weeks I have been testing the StreamVu Producer Station from StreamVuTV, as you all well know I stream multiple times a week to services like Ustream, Livestream and my own personal Flash Media server that is hosted on Amazon. So I was excited to test the commercial StreamVuTV Producer Station offering.

This is a pretty powerful service / product offering. Lets start with the Producer Station (PS-102) box that you input your source video to, you input a HDSDI, Composite or HDMI source video which then pushes it in the desired format to the StreamVU TC Control center. Through their web interface you set the service / streaming box up to ingest and push at the exact stream size / desired bitrate from 32kbps to 10Mbps. Giving you the flexibility to scale down the stream rate when you have limited bandwidth.

For a commercial broadcast product it is very versatile, and the folks at StreamVu have designed their platform so that you can easily set your service up, so as to charge for access to your programming and hold a pay per view event. From the time you get your gear, set it up and configure your broadcast channels you should be able to be up and running in a hour or less.

Their service control panel takes a little getting used to, but it is relatively straight forward. Administrators though should take some time and learn the interface and put the streaming service through some test runs. Like many other services you setup your channels, and once you have done so they provide the embeds for you to put on your site. They also have set it up so that you can upload a video trailer that people can watch to be informed of your upcoming event.

This is a commercial service and is designed for the serious webcaster. They have three packages starting at $15.00 a month plus .50 cents a GB going all the way up to $500.00 a month which includes up to a TB of bandwidth.. While the pricing is not for the faint at heart, if you are a serious webcaster and you are doing on demand events the cost is very reasonable. The also offer an addon service for $6.00 a month plus bandwidth that enables the stream to be seen by iOS users.

The StreamVU TV Producer station itself comes in three models with prices starting @ $399 for the composite only box, $999 for Composite & HDMI and $1999 for the unit I tested that takes Composite, HDSDI & HDMI.

I want to thank the team at StreamVu for being patient we both attended NAB and I have had the box a little longer than I wanted to.. Their team is excited to start working with folks in the New Media space and is a viable player in the streaming media space.

Posted in Information, Streaming

3 Comments

PanaVise PortaGRIP

Posted by geeknews at 3:26 PM on April 20, 2013

Panavise Portagrip is the “best vehicle phone holder” that I have ever come across. I have tried a variety of makes and models from a number of companies and nothing compares. With other vendors, I ended up being frustrated in that I was either knocking the mount off, or the holder was not holding the phone etc. That frustration is over with a new product from PanaVise products. As you can see from the picture it has an amazing suction cup that keeps it attached to the window, some GPS manufactures could take a lesson on mounts from these guys..

But what makes it unique is that it will hold a variety of phone sized because all you do is lay your phone in the grip and squeeze and it locks into place and adapts to phones from 2.25 to 3.75 inches. It has multiple hinge points that allow you to easily change the angle or the perspective. The best part is getting it out of the holder, you simply depress the button on the side and it opens up letting you grab your phone.

The folks from PanaVise have a wide variety of products to mount just about everything. I had been a customer for years and many of my studio cameras and gear is sitting on or being held up by PanaVise products..

The Panavise Portagrip Model 15504 is available @ www.smartphoneexperts.com or call Toll Free: (888) 599-8998 priced at $29.95. You can also email cs@panavise.com for information the model has a lifetime warranty as well. I fell very privileged to have one now, and will be ordering a second unit for my other car. Pricing was not available upon review.

Posted in Information

6 Comments

STMBags.com

Posted by geeknews at 2:49 PM on April 20, 2013

Recently the folks at STMBags sent me over over of their iPhone cases for review. The unit itself is functional and has a nice finish. For those like a slim design their product line will likely be very attractive to you. The best part they are very inexpensive at $4.00 each you can but one of every color to suit your mood. They also have a full line of Laptop Bags & Laptop Sleeves to check out..

Posted in Information

No Comments

My First Hour with Twitter Music

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 12:13 PM on April 18, 2013

Twitter Music released today to the general public. I have been playing around with it for the last couple of hours. When you go the website the first thing you will see are the most popular tracks . You can choose from Popular, Emerging, Suggested, Now Playing and Me. How they are curating some of these categories such as Suggested and Emerging isn’t clear. So far I haven’t recognized a lot of the artist on my suggested list, that is neither good or bad just interesting. To play a song you simply tap on it. If you have a premium Spotify or Rdio account you can play the full song, if not it plays a 30 second clip, which appears to be an iTunes preview. Which makes me wonder what happens when you come to a song that isn’t on iTunes. When you play a song a rotating circle appears at the bottom of the screen. If you are on a iPhone and you tap on the rotating circle it will go full screen. You can fast forward or rewind by swiping the outer ring of the circle backward and forward. You can go to the next song by simply swiping to the left. To stop it you just tap on it. You can control the volume directly in the app. If you are using the web version and tap on the same rotating circle you are shown a view of the artist twitter profile page. If you tap on the right arrow on you keyboard it will take you to your next song. You can swipe forward or backwards with in the song by using your mouse, although it is very hard to control. I haven’t discovered any keyboard short cuts for that, but I might be missing something.

There are a couple of things I noticed right away. The first was there is no way to save a song or tag it to buy later. Unfortunately, to play a full version of a song you must have either of a premium Spotify or Rdio account. I had no problem connecting to my Spotify account on the iOs version. At first the connection to Spotify wasn’t working on the web version, however it is now. It is an iOs app only and is built for the iPhone or iPod, although it does play fine on the iPad. Since I have an Android phone I am hoping they bring it to the Android platform soon. I am not sure how much I am going to use it I like the ability to check out emerging artist and what my friends are listening to. I think it will be something I start playing and then let it run in the background when I just want to listen to music, but don’t care what it is.

Tags: #twitter music, audio, rdio, Spotify

Posted in Information, Music, Twitter

4 Comments

Blackmagic Design Ramps Up Their Production Hardware and Software

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 9:42 AM on April 11, 2013

Blackmagic Design has not only been busy this year making excellent cameras but also updating their production hardware and software. Among the updates were the DaVinci Resolve 10. It now has a new tool set for sound sync. Resolve Live offers many new features including grading live from the camera. You can add as many nodes and color corrections as you like. The DaVinci Resolve allows the user to do multitrack editing with up to 16 channels of audio per clip and unlimited video and audio tacks in the timeline. It also allows the user to edit 3D projects with support for left and right eye clips. The color correction has also been upgraded. The DaVince upgrade will be available to all DaVince customers in Q3.

Blackmagic is also introducing the ATEM Production Studio 4K. This is the world’s first Ultra HD production switcher. It operates natively in Ultra HD, HD or SD. It has a total of 8 inputs, 4 6G-SDI and 4 HDMI. There are a multiple number of features that all work with Ultra HD. The switcher can monitor up to 8 sources. The user can work in Ultra HD and then down convert to a regular HD programming feed. You can do live aux switching directly from the front panel. There is an LCD for monitor the aux output.

The Blackmagic MultiDock is a solution for managing and editing media from HyperDeck disk recorders and cameras. A rack has 4 independent 2.5 inch disk docking slots. You can mount both regular hard disk and SSDS. It has its own built in power supple and a single thunderbolt connection to the computer. It has an independent SATA chip per slot for maximum speed. Disks can be stripped together for a disk array. It will be available in May for $595.

Blackmagic Design is also introducing the DeckLink Mini Recorder and DeckLink Mini Monitor. This is the PCIe plug in cards version of the UltraStudio Mini Recorder and UltraStudio Mini Monitor. It can fit into regular PCIe slots and is perfect for the PCIe slots found in rack mounts. It supports the same software for Windows, Mac and Linux that the regular DeckLink models do. It will be available in mid April for $145.00.

Blackmagic not only produces great video monitoring products but also excels in audio monitoring with the Blackmagic Audio Monitor. It is attractive with all the features that a professional needs. It has a SDI input, an LCD screen and a HDMI monitoring output built in. The SDI input can handle Ultra HD as standard. It is designed using machined metal,even the speaker grills so it not only works great but looks great. The level meters are customizable and the volume knob is contact-less so it will never wear out. It will be available in a few weeks for $1,495.

BlackMagic is also releasing a new model of their ATEM Studio Converter. It is also machine metal design. It had its own built in power supply. There are analog connections in the rear panel. It also works with the new 6G-SDI technology. There are controls on the front panel o operating the talk back. The director can talk directly to the camera operator without using headphones. There is a mic and speaker input built directly into the front panel. The ATEM Studio Converter will be available in May for $1,995.

As is expected, BlackMagic Design continues to produce quality hardware and software products for the professional in the field of audio and video at reasonable prices.

Tags: ATEM Studio Converter, Blackmagic Audio Monitor, Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve 10, DeckLink Mini Recorder

Posted in audio, Gear, Information, NAB, video

2 Comments

Robot Underpants #96 – 04.10.13

Posted by Langley at 10:42 PM on April 10, 2013

Langley and “Starman” Michael Gaines welcome Eric Rice back from the UK, with tales of eels up butts, geek homes, crying in space, capturing asteroids, Robocop news, and more!

* Eels in a Butt

* Slingshot Condom Guy

* Robocop News - (Ronny Cox Music)

* Sci Fi Homes

* Stay Classy Australia (Google Maps Car)

* Capturing an Asteroid

(End Track “Milkbone Underwear by Ronny Cox)