Tag Archives | Flip

Is Cisco/Flip the US Robotics/PalmPilot of 2009? Hope Not!

Cisco Flip A great big domineering company that’s synonymous with communications equipment. A spunky little company with a cool, pocketable gadget that brings new technology to the masses. Today’s news that Cisco is spending $590 million in stock to buy Pure Digital, makers of the Flip line of low-cost, easy-to-use camcorders, reminded me of another acquisition that happened so long ago that I’d almost forgotten about it: The buyout of PalmPilot creator Palm Computing by one-time modem kingpin US Robotics back in 1995.

But once I started thinking about the Palm/US Robotics marriage, I remembered a historical tidbit that’s worth recording. I met with Palm executives in 1995, months before the first Palm PDA was announced. (At the time, they told me it was going to be called Taxi, but that’s another story for another time.)

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5Words for March 19th, 2009

5words Like news? You’ll LOVE these!

Gizmodo tests WiMax, likes it.

Cisco flips for the Flip.

Hacker compromises Mac in seconds.

New features in Silverlight 3.

Sirius founder: Sirius is doomed.

New iPhone clues in beta?

Steve Ballmer’s still courting Yahoo.

Random rumor: OLED Macs, iPhones.

Dell’s Adamo notebook on sale.

iPhone tethering seems to work.

Sprint roadmap: Pre, other phones.

Mobile Firefox now in beta.

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Secrets of Managing your Flip Video Collection

[David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of Spark Media Solutions, a storytelling production company that specializes in live event production. He also blogs and does a daily radio report for Green 960 and 910 KNEW in San Francisco at Spark Minute.]

Flip MinoIf you use a Flip video camera like I do, (here’s a photo of my Mino HD with a design of my company logo on it) you probably also have quite a collection of videos that are being managed with their video management software. If you have the old Flip Video software, you should upgrade to the new FlipShare software for free. It does much better management of your videos and it’s considerably faster.

But when I installed the FlipShare program it moved all my videos! The “My Flip Video Library” is still there and all the folders I created in the Flip Video program are there as well, but all the videos are gone. All that’s left in each folder is a video that says, “The videos which were previously located in this folder have been imported into the NEW FlipShare software. To view or edit your videos, open the new software.”

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How to Produce Great Web Video in a Whole Lot Less Time

[David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of Spark Media Solutions, a storytelling production company that specializes in live event production. He also blogs and does a daily radio report for Green 960 in San Francisco at Spark Minute.]

speedvideoTen years ago when I worked at ZDTV (later to become TechTV) I made all the mistakes a first time producer can make in video production. I shot too much video. I didn’t set up a shoot schedule. I didn’t have an outline of what I wanted. And I ended up reshooting projects because I didn’t plan correctly.

Video production can be insanely time-consuming. Some of that is just a result of rookie mistakes made early on, but many production processes are simply unavoidable. Even though everyone has adopted non-linear video editing, watching video must be done linearly. A good producer can reduce time considerably if they plan better and learn how to more efficiently work their equipment. But even when you cut out all the fat, you still end up with the realization that  video production is slow.

About four years ago, at CES in Las Vegas, I started to see a new crop of software and devices specifically targeted at reducing the time it takes to produce a video. No single product or technology has shown itself to be the panacea for speedy video production, but when you use these tools and tricks in aggregate they can save you an enormous amount of time. Here are some suggestions that everyone can use. These tips are not just for professionals, but anyone looking to cut down the time it takes to produce video. I know I’ve left a lot out, so I look forward to you adding some of your own recommendations in the comments.

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