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theory.isthereason

kevin lim . social cyborg . cyberculturalist . edupunk . futurist

Making silky smooth videos with the affordable Hague Mini Motion CamOctober 10

Earlier yesterday, I asked friends to guess a new contraption via a broken up photo… one guy tweeted right: It’s a kind of steadicam.

What’s a steadicam?
You can read how it works in this great guide, but in essence, it’s a a camera rig which lets you achieve smooth tracking videos with minimal vibrations. If balanced right, it’ll feel as if the camera were floating independently of the camera-person.

I first learned about the Hague Mini Motion Cam (MMC) from a Canon HV20/30 forum, complete with pricing and test videos to boot.

While decent handheld steadicams go from $800 up, there are lots of cheaper alternatives, including building your own for $14. Factoring in the effort, cost and performance, I found the Hague option

Panoramic shooting with PanoLabOctober 10

Click image to enlarge

Okay so it’s not the best looking panorama you’ve seen, but if you notice carefully, to take this shot I had to be “floating” just outside the 8th floor of the Natural Sciences Building on UB North Campus.

Wanna try? If you have an iPhone, you have to get the free PanoLab app (iTunes link).

First, note that what the PanoLab app does isn’t exactly new; my Canon Ixus 330 from the late ’90s had similar panoramic-shooting capability built-in. However, it’s clever given that camera phones ubiquitous, as well as how it utilizes the iPhone’s multi-touch feature for arranging shots.

Hey, don’t just take my word for it… check out the growing PanoLab flickr pool of tasty panoramas all shot with the iPhone’s craptastic built-in camera.

Moral of story: It’s not the technology that matters… it’s the driver.

Google Street View car spotted in Singapore

Photo source: CNet Crave

Hurray! Google Street View is confirmed to be coming to Singapore in a few months (via Singeo). Similarly, Street View launched in Japan earlier this year, much to the delight of Jon on Yongfook.com

What kind of fun can you have with Google Street View in Singapore?
Here are some ideas…

With Singapore being so geographically small, I’ve been somewhat puzzled why it has taken so long for Google or Yahoo! to present better mapping services for Singapore. While the low priority could be due to our relatively small market size, there’s definitely no shortage of local GIS developers ready to jump on board. Let’s not forget, with the demand for location-aware mobile applications (e.g. iPhone), there’s bound to be plenty of fresh mone

The clever bit about Obama’s iPhone app…October 3

Via arigreenberg:

I just learned about the new Obama / Biden iPhone application from Nate Westheimer. This app is impressive and another great example of how in tune the Obama campaign is with technology and social media tools. One of the features is the “Call Friends” tool which sorts all of your contacts by state starting with swing states. Very smart.

You can download the application from the iTunes store here. Enjoy.

I also read somewhere that McCain’s app will be released on VHS. I’m j/k.

I’ve been practicing the art of video production for the web for a while now, and one of the areas I’ve been interested in is the growing space of live video production.

While we have online streaming solutions such as Ustream.tv, Qik.com, and the magnificent Mogulus.com, I’ve also been on the look out for prosumer level Mac-based desktop apps that allow me to do on-site live video production for streaming or videocasting online.

In producing professional looking video podcasts, post-production is the most time-consuming part of our workflow. Having tools that allow us perform live production would decrease our overall delivery time dramatically.

In terms of Mac-based video production studios, I’ve heard that daily videocasters like GeekBrief.tv use WireCast, while I’ve been playing with the freely available