Google launched a new weather
search feature for iOS and Android browsers. When you navigate to google.com
and search for "weather", you will be presented with a widget-like interface
that shows your current conditions and immediate forecast.
Something to note on some protection worth mentioning to educators when we bring them on board to the iBooks platform.
"Books submitted to the iBookstore using a Paid Books Account can be protected by Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM (digital rights management) system, which helps prevent unauthorized duplication of your book. (Movies and audio included in HTML5 widgets are not DRM-protected.)"
It is true that Apple iBooks Agreements have restrictions in sale of ibooks on other platforms. However the contents can be exported to other format such as kindle which has no issue with Apple as mentioned below. This is good to know if we adopt the iBooks Platform in NIE.
"Additionally, content authored in iBooks Author could largely be reformatted into a basic EPUB format or other file type, such as Amazon's KF8, and redistributed without complaint from Apple. However, such works would also lack the multitouch features and dynamic widgets that iBooks Author makes it easy to incorporate into its own titles."
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!
this widget allows you to install buttons with sharing options to popular social media without a fuss. no html coding needed. i think this might be good for lecturers who publish their articles online who hope to get more publicity through social media.
Adobe has released an embeddable video player that plays HTML5 native video in browsers that support it, and falls back to Flash in browsers that don’t.
It’s cross-browser and cross-platform, so it works on iPhones, iPads and other devices that don’t support Flash. Using Adobe’s new player, these devices can show videos in web pages without the Flash plug-in.
YellowBird, a Netherlands-based video technology startup, just had its interactive, 360-degree video player approved by YouTube for integration into YouTube's channels. With the new player, you can now not only watch immersive, 360-degree YouTube videos, you can also navigate the video by dragging your mouse. As TechCrunch rightly described it last year - it's like Google Street View for video.
YellowBird says its original player was customized specifically for this project into an embeddable widget which also contains social networking links, a 2D (unwrapped) version of the video and a link to buy the album from inside the player.
About yellowBird
The company builds 360-degree experiences
Shortly after Google unveiled Swiffy, the Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool designed for WebKit browsers, mobile app development firm appMobi launched a related utility called appFlash. This new tool takes advantage of Swiffy's capabilities, allowing mobile developers to convert app assets coded in Flash into native iOS applications.
