Posts Tagged ‘Video’

We didn’t know the toy industry was ready to jump into the app store game, but apparently’ we’ve underestimated its fad-grabbing prowess. Wild Planet is calling its new Spy Video TRAKR remote controlled robot the first “app-enabled” toy, with special filters and routines that kids can program for the vehicle and share online. We sort of thought Lego’s Mindstorms beat them to the punch on this, but we’ll try not read too far into things. The bot itself is equipped with a camera that streams video to an LCD-equipped remote, and videos and stills of the TRAKR’s exploits can even be stored to an SD card. Sample programs include a routine to detect an intruder, shout a few choice words at the doomed sibling out of the TRAKR’s built in speaker, and scurry off into the night, but Wild Planet hopes kids will program even more imaginative routines and share them online. The bot will be available in October for $120.

www.engadget.com

High-Def Flash video is a stretch on some hacktintosh netbooks, but Flash 10.1 brings it into the realm of possibility. I just installed it on my MSI Wind running Leopard, and damn: HD YouTube and Vimeo videos were almost watchable.

I say almost, because there was still some noticeable frame dropping. But still, I could actually watch HD flash video (windowed and full-screen) without it stuttering like a slideshow. One issue with YouTube: the CPU pretty much went into overload once the video was playing, and on the third viewing I had to Force Quit Firefox to wrestle back control.

But this is good news for hackintoshes, and netbooks in general. This is not hardware GPU acceleration (limited to Windows right now), it just seems to be better CPU usage. Earlier today I also posted about AnandTech’s Flash 10.1 CPU-utilization tests: they still noticed improvements under OS X, too. If you’ve given Flash 10.1 a try, post a comment here so other readers can see what sort of netbook you have, and if it’s worth trying.

For the record, my MSI Wind U100 has 2GB of memory, a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, and integrated Intel 945 graphics. (Pic above is of the Dell Mini 9).

http://gizmodo.com/5406670/flash-101-is-good-news-for-hackintosh-netbooks

Qik’s VideoCamera app isn’t the first to give older iPhones video recording capabilities, but it could be the first to do it well enough for non-gimmick use. It’ll record at 15fps with various real-time effects, including a Na’vi-inspired blue tint.

Other features include landscape mode, zoom, brightness and audio controls, and effects like black and white, red (?), Na’vi blue, and mirror. It’s available now for a buck (link opens iTunes). [Qik]

http://gizmodo.com/5452330/qik-videocamera-app-gives-iphone-3g-and-even-2g-video-recording