Well,
that was quick. Right after yesterday's surprising announcement,
Sony flew its yet-to-be-released NEX-VG10 camcorder into London just in time for
today's showcase event. Naturally, we had to get our hands on this shiny baby,
and boy we were impressed. In case you missed the news, this snazzy device is
the world's first consumer HandyCam with interchangeable lens, meaning you can
share E-mount lenses with your young NEX DSLRs, or take advantage of
the abundant A-mount lenses with the help of an adapter (which will cost you
extra, mind you). Likewise, there are also hot and cold shoe mounts on the mic
shaft to cater your current camera accessories. Read on for our thoughts on the
rest of the camcorder -- we've put together a little sample clip for you at the
end as well.
There
isn't much to complain about with this $2,000 (and, sadly, possibly £2,000 for
the Brits) piece of kit in terms of appearance and ergonomics. We like being
able to hold it by either the seemingly solid body (using the strap) or the mic
shaft, and both ways provided comfortable grip without much fatigue due to the
light weight (even with the bundled lens). We were also able to quickly master
the jog-dial control next to the 3-inch screen, but for this price, we expected
a touchscreen interface as well to make life easier. As for the bundled F3.5-6.3
18-200mm lens, we found that zooming required a bit more effort than we liked,
so thankfully there's auto focus mode -- just like any ordinary camcorder -- to
save us from further wrist work with the focus ring. We must also point out that
unlike the Olympus PEN,
this Sony camcorder didn't pick up any mechanical noise from its lens auto
focussing; otherwise, this kit totally wouldn't deserve such price tag.
Of
course, what we really care about is the picture and sound quality. All is
revealed in our sample reel below (remember to enable HD playback mode), but in
brief: stunningly accurate colors, sharp 1080/60i picture, and impressive audio
sensitivity (notice how the mic was able to pick up conversations from afar; you
can also enable just the front mics to minimise background noise). You may
notice some shakiness while we were adjusting the lens -- we'll blame it on our
lack of practice from the little hands-on time we had. Regardless, the NEX-VG10
certainly lived up to our expectation, and we look forward to hear what the
filming hobbyists think of this prosumer-level camcorder when it comes out in
September.
Update: commenter
aim120 dropped us a link to Sony's own sample clip. Enjoy!
1- Easel.ly
This is a great tool that allows users to create visually rich infographics from pre-designed themes. It is very easy to use and only drag and drop. It actually supports Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Create visually creative info-graphics in classrooms. Great for educators or anyone who wishes to display visually attractive information that doesn't bore the audience. There's eight to choose from. My favourite to use is Easel.ly.
"Designing meaningful and engaging lessons (for any form of delivery, including eLearning) is a task that every good instructional designer seeks to master. Teaching lower-school students is a privilege that quickly makes you realize that the approach you take when conveying an idea is just as important as the idea itself. An approach that I have found most successful is threefold:
Be clear and concise
Use visuals
Excite the imagination.
Since migrating over to the "adult learning" spectrum, I've found this strategy to be just as applicable."
A powerful example of direct manipulation in user interfaces using the now-standard affordances of swipe, pinch and push. What are some ways we can enhance our future e-learning apps to reduce the adoption barrier among potential e-learners?
Series of adverts with brilliant vibrant colours. Excellent composition to create the paint-like graphic which grabs the attention in the most obvious ways. Message is clear & straight to the point!
Check out the video advert of tthis machine at the bottom. How the HD camera are able to capture the boucing paints! Absolutely fantastic!
Folksonomy (tagging) is 1 of 3 categorizations of Web 2.0 tools. This article from the "Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 level" provides clear definition and powerful application of tagging activities. This excellent article shows Web 2.0 technologies as cognitive tools.
A research paper on how low-tech SMS can be highly effective for certain learning tasks such as teaching social English. And now, there's Whatsapp and other social-messaging platforms that can be an intermediate level between simple text messages that work on any basic phone, to sophisticated native apps that must be programmed for a specific operating system.
"As SMS is technologically and functionally very simple, it can be considered to be a relatively primitive
technology. However, viewing it from another angle, we see that SMS ranks very highly in terms of user
convenience.
Successful uptake of mobile learning strategy is more likely in the situation when "learning activities can integrate into our lives in an unobtrusive fashion". SMS can deliver information in this unobtrusive fashion more readily than other strategies.
SMS, thus, can be regarded as a practical and realistic mLearning technology for use in natural settings at present."
Pek Mee, I will insert the Acknowledgement in reference on the last PPT slide for Unit 2. Will advise GPL to do the same going forward. After clearance from Ashley I will advise GPL on the correct way Credits/Acknowledgement going forward.
This is one source of free images used by faculty for NIE Open Courses.
It is mandatory to publish an acknowledgement to FreeDigitalPhotos.net and the image creator on the page each free image is used on. For example: "Image courtesy of [contributor name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net". It should be clear which image the acknowledgement relates to.
Where the same image appears on multiple pages, for example in a banner or background, it need only be acknowledged on one page.
If you are unable to publish an acknowledgement, you must purchase the image to use it. You do not need to publish an acknowledgement if you purchase the image.
Rules of Engagement
As social media continues to evolve, defining the “rules of engagement” will encourage thoughtful interaction that benefits the business, brand, customer, peers, and prospects at every touchpoint. In the end, we earn the attention, relationships and business we deserve.
Don’t just participate solely in your own domains
Participate where your presence is advantageous and mandatory.
Dear CeLebs,
Last few month, we spoke on how we are to work on our PLNs. TweetDeck is a great Twitter tool, but can be daunting to get started with. Here's a handy guide for you to refer to if you should ever have any doubt on how to use the tool.
Cheers.
WebSense launched Defensio 2.0 for Facebook, a Facebook app that can
help keep your company's Facebook Page safe and clear from malicious links, spam
and profanity
As the forcefulness and personal identifiability of the phrase increased, the number of clicks likewise increased. "You" identifies the reader directly, "should" implies an obligation, and "follow me on twitter" is a direct command. Moving the link to a literal callout "here" provides a clear location for clicking.