Reely useful, reel possibilities

I heard about ReelDirector by Nexvio on MacBreak Weekly 163 when Leo Laporte made it his "pick of the week." and purchased it almost immediately. (I don't exactly fall into the category of impulse buyer so that should be enough of an endorsement right there!) ReelDirector (available in iTunes store for AU$9.99) is a very capable video editing application that has been released this month for the iPhone 3GS. It covers almost all of the features you could want. Trim video, add titles, transitions and adding and reordering of clips. The only minor complaints are it can't access photos or audio tracks from the iPhone for digital stories and mixing into your projects. But according to Hongyu Ch, president at Nexvio given the lack of API support at the minute from Apple they have done well to get this far and development of the application is continuing.

There are plenty of other sites that will give more detailed description of the features and limitations of ReelDirector so I there is no need for me to repeat stuff here (I believe in outsourcing!) but I am genuinely excited about the impact this application may have, especially for the education market (more on this later).

I strongly recommend ReelDirector to anyone who has ever contemplated shooting video with their iPhone.

Entertainment unit

Picture this, Miglia TVMax or El Gato 250 box, ext HD and MacMini plugged into 40" plus plasma. Control the setup with a Logitech all-in-one remote and Logitech Dinovo Mini Keyboard and you can watch, record, time shift, push to iPod etc all off your TV. Now, add the QuickCam Pro and you can have video chat conversations with your mates at the same time, all from the comfort of you couch! Nice! Perfect for my 2 yo to chat to his grandparents (sitting in front of a computer does NOT work).
It may sound like I am a bit of a Logitech shill but I assure you this is not the case (I wish! I might get some freebies then!) I have just used a lot of their stuff and found it to be of sound quality and reliability. I have also been impressed by the cross platform support on most of their product line.

Storage price war

Some of the larger chain stores like Dick Smith Power House, Big W and Office Works seem to be joining the digital storage price war. For external hard drives at least. Things have heated up so much that they are even out pricing MSY Technology the bargain shop frequented by any tech geek worth their salt all around the country.
All of this spells great news for the consumer. Except you can't help but feel a little miffed when you see the same thing but cheaper in a junk mail catalogue 3 days later. In the fast paced world of technology however, you just have to suck that up and dive in.
If you haven't got a current back up, now is a great time to get a big drive and copy all that data.

Truth about girls

The Truth About Teen Girls - TIME

Some experts recommend media-literacy classes--as early as kindergarten. "Children need to learn how to dissect and understand this pervasive aspect of their environment," says Gigi Durham, author of The Lolita Effect, "just as they learn to understand the seasons or Newton's laws of motion."

and further to that

Durham also suggests, counterintuitively, that kids should have access to more media. But the venues she recommends are those--like girlsinc.org--that are not in a symbiotic relationship with people who want to sell things. And she believes that girls should be encouraged to create their own media, not just to talk back but also to understand how they work.

We are trying to do this with some of the programs we run. I feel quite passionately about the importance of young people's understanding of electronic media. Creating your own products is great way to deepen that understanding and make informed decisions. I have been doing a lot of thinking about text and where reading fits into a modern education and will complete a post soon. That should go down well...

None of what you see...

And only half of what you hear? Where does YouTube video fit then?
The LogiTech Dinovo Mini Keyboard is hot, is compatible with OSX and I am totally going to get one. I will explain why in a minute but first "the gadget".
It says on the box that it doesn't support OSX but a bit of further research always pays off (go YouTube!) as you will see below.

Given that it is a bluetooth device it makes sense that at least basic funcitonality would be supported. As they guy on the video says, the Win Media Centre function buttons don't work (like duh!) but everything else is fine. It looks super sweet. Veronica Belmont (formerly Mahalo Daily, now Tekzilla) also reviewed it CES 2008 and gave it a thumbs up (as much as you can give from a booth demo anyway)

So why do I want one?
My current setup is an old PowerBook running the Miglia box with an ext-HD hanging of the side for extra storage. I have a DVI-HDMI adapter connecting to the Panasonic plasma and a set of JBL Creatures plugged into the audio jack allowing easy playback of Miglia recorded content as well as iTunes video (and audio without having to turn on the TV.) Everything works well but I have been contemplating a Mac Mini upgrade, initially for performance and shelf footprint but Front Row and the Mac remote is also weighing into my thinking. I did some pricing today to find that Apple want to touch you up for ~A$208 for bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Whoa! Let's check out some other options - enter the Denovo Mini.
At less than A$150 it's a very competitive price and will be the perfect compliment to the Logitech universal remote. I can program it for all the functions of the Apple Remote and I will never have to leave he couch.
I just have to go and check my bank account?!