The Russians Used a Pencil: Frames, a new app from Studio Neat
I’ve used several timelapse and stop-motion apps from the app store, and after a few minutes of playing with this one, it’s my recommendation for best timelapse/stop-motion app hands-down. I’ve currently got one called TimeLapse, which I never really liked but was the best thing available when I got it about 6 months ago, and Honeybuild, which was much better but I still had some problems with the interface. Not so with Frames. It’s beautiful, intuitive, and feels like it belongs on an iPhone. The best part is that it doesn’t try to be the editor too- it’s optimized for export to iMovie for adding music, sound effects, titles, etc. as it should be. Excellent, Excellent work from StudioNeat.
For the past 6 months Tom and I have been working in secret on our new product, our first foray into the software space. It’s been an interesting change of pace from the very public process of using Kickstarter, and we’re so excited to finally show it to the world.
It’s called Frames, and…
Source: russianpencil
This post is everything that is wrong about copyright law
While this post addresses getting away with some things I don’t think anyone should be doing, its very nature brings to mind one of my very favorite quotes with regard to copyright law:
“It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, “whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,” and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.”
— John Adams
Because copyright law has become so ridiculously restrictive and punitive, we’ve all become lawbreakers. And many, now lawbreakers for ridiculous reasons, figure that since they’re already a lawbreaker there’s no harm in taking it a step further.
Quick Tip: Make web pages more readable by using the print button
There’s no question that many web pages these days are getting less readable. Ads litter the screen and short articles get turned into multi-page “slideshows”. It’s enough to stop reading a website, even if there is content worth reading there. Services like Instapaper, Readability, and Read it Later all try to reduce the clutter and make the web more readable, but sometimes even they fail. They may only get part of the article, or the flow may be destroyed by “creative” formatting on the part of the website. A trick I’ve been using lately is to find the article’s print button. Most websites will have them near the top of the article. By simply clicking that button, you are presented with a specially formatted version of the web page that strips out what you don’t want and leaves what you came for: the content.
I usually do this and then send the print-formatted page to Instapaper. It tends to work much better in general than simply Instapapering the original page
Apple Store employees accept petitions from protesters
“At press time, it was unclear if the protesters were wearing clothing manufactured in the USA, or if they plan similar protests at Best Buys, Walmarts, Gamestops, or the headquarters of Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, HP, Dell, or any of the other retail outlets and consumer electronics companies who also heavily employ Chinese labor to build their products.”
It’s been a while. Here’s what I’ve been up to the last few weeks.
I’m in the process of writing several posts on topics such as entertainment, copyright, and the TV of the future, so stick around!
iPads and Digital Textbooks DO belong in Schools
First, read this article. Ok, now that you’re up to speed, this is what I have to say about it:
Matt Burns is totally wrong here. The problem isn’t iPads, It’s bad teachers, and school systems that make it very hard for good teachers to keep being very good teachers. The problem isn’t learning proofs on an iPad, the problem is a teacher who can’t explain proofs to begin with. iBooks Author is a tool. A tool for good teachers to easily create custom books for their classrooms, a tool for good teachers to use as an enhancement to what they are already doing. True, it can and most likely will be an enabler for poor teachers, but the honest truth is that with some teachers, like several I had in high school, even an iPad teaching me would have been better.
Don’t blame the tools, blame the poor teachers, school systems, and laws that are the real problem.
Innovation, Hollywood-Style
Get ready for this one — it’s huge. In fact, you better sit down.
You know the 28-day window* that studios now impose between when a DVD goes on sale and when it can be made available to rent?
It’s about to made 56 days, reports Peter Kafka.
Boom.
Hollywood is saved. DVD sales are going to flow like wine again. Everyone will be drunk. Glory days.
*sometimes known as “the bullshit 28-day window”
Yep, cause that 28 day window is working so well. In fact, it works so well at helping me forget when I can actually see a movie, I usually just don’t bother anymore.
Source: parislemon
Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually
The original article found here, though it will take some endurance to deal with Forbes’ ridiculous ads and pagination.
I Totally agree with everything Larry Downes says in this article. I’ve actually made it a point to never shop at Best Buy except for emergencies, where I need something tech and I need it today. I don’t like that I get accosted by people constantly but can never find any help.
