Category Archives: Video
iOS 5 Voice Recognition Concept Shows Apple How It Should Be Done [VIDEO]
The wish list for iOS 5 just keeps on growing. We’ve already had umpteen concepts showing just how Apple should improve the iOS notification handling and now we’ve got a brand new video, but this time showing el-Jobs and co. how their mobile operating system should be handling voice recognition.
MacStories brought to our attention a video by Jan-Michael Cart which shows a wonderful, elegant and simple way of taking voice recognition and integrating it into the operating itself.
Jan-Michael’s video shows a selection of scenarios where you might want to use voice recognition, the first of which is opening the SMS app and replying to a fictitious (we assume!) SMS from Steve Jobs. Here pressing and holding the home button invokes the voice recognition portion of the OS and a blue status bar appears at the top of the screen – similar to the red one which appears during a phone call.
The rest of the video shows off how Jan-Michael envisages voice recognition would work for apps such as Email which don’t feature a text field, but rather an area where text can be entered free-form. Here, double-tapping the area would bring up the now familiar copy/paste options. A new microphone logo would be added to the list which, as you’d expect, brings the voice recognition into play.
It’s an interesting take on how to bring voice recognition to the OS itself rather than one particular app and it appears as if it would work similar to how Android approaches the problem.
No Comment: Inneract provides antidote to restrictive social norms
If you’ve ever felt the urge to chest-bump a stranger or dance the cha-cha on a city street, you’re probably a fan of the antics of Improv Everywhere.
The NYC-based ‘prank collective’ executes missions large and small, defying the expectations of passerby with group freezes, flash musicals and the occasional Imperial arrest on a subway. Of course, for most of us the logistical and artistic challenge of creating a surreal and transgressive experience for ourselves and others is… well… just too much darn work.
Now, thanks to the efforts of artist Lauren McCarthy, there’s Inneract. This free app lets you post your location and your desired interaction so that other users of the app can find you and do unto you as you would have them. Want to create a drum circle? Splash in a public fountain? Have a tickle battle? If you can imagine it, you can put it into Inneract and let the world fulfill your wildest need for novelty. See the video below for some relatively staid examples.
Sure, we could point out all the ways this concept could go very, very wrong. We could ponder the possibility that an evil companion might put your picture into the app along with a rather personal request, and then sit next to you to watch the fun. We could suggest some ideas for in-app purchases ($0.99 to enable Fight Club Mode, “I want someone to come over and kick my ass”), or muse on the irony of a location-based app that exposes your deepest fetish to everyone around you. Instead, though, we’ll let this app stand as today’s truly wacky No Comment.
iOS 5 With New Multitasking UI Demoed On Official White iPhone 4? [Video]
Folks at Vietnamese site Tinhte claims to have got their hands on an official white iPhone 4 from Apple which is said to be running a pre-release version of iOS 5. Video after the break.
The video shows off new Exposé-style multitasking switcher, along with new spotlight search user-interface in iOS 5 running on what appears to be a genuine white iPhone 4 from Apple.
Windows Phone 7′s IE9 Beats iPhone 4 And Nexus S (Android) In HTML5 Speed Test [Video]
More news out of Microsoft’s MIX11 developer conference in Las Vegas, with Microsoft showing off its new IE9 web browsing technology for Windows Phone 7.
Microsoft today pitted its own mobile browser up against the iPhone 4′s Safari and Google’s Android browser running on a Nexus S, though there was no mention of which versions of their respective software the two challengers were running. All three were put through their paces by Microsoft’s own speed reading test website. The results, unsurprisingly, favored the boys from Redmond.
WinRumors managed to capture the fun and games in video, but the gist is this – IE9 smoked both Android and iOS. While Microsoft’s mobile browser (which is basically the desktop app, according to MS) managed to complete the test at an impressive 22 frames per second, Android could only must 11 FPS with iOS languishing in third with just 2 FPS.
While these results are impressive for Microsoft, it’s again worth pointing out there was no mention of the software being used on the two competitor handsets. While we’re not suggesting Microsoft’s tests aren’t accurate, it’s something that’s worth bearing in mind when watching the video. With Apple’s iOS 4.3.x bringing improved Java runtime performance amongst other tweaks, it would be interesting to see whether that was the version Microsoft used.
Regardless, 22 FPS is an impressive result and Microsoft should be commended for pushing its mobile web browsing team so hard. Interesting days for WP7 ahead!
Silent Film Director – New iPhone app to create Video Masterpieces [video]
Silent Film Director – the brand new app by MacPhun LLC makes your videos look like Silent Films from Charlie Chaplin times, Retro Music Clips from the days of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe or something completely different – depends on where creativity and talent lead you.
With a number of video applications on the App Store today, there are hardly few, which let iPhone (iPod touch) users express their creativity and there are definitely none, which offer what the new app “Silent Film Director” offers.
The app lets users direct own cinematography masterpieces, which look like films from the old days of the Movie Era. Users can choose video effects, customize quality and speed of video, add soundtracks, title cards, special transitions, mix videos with photos and more.
Video effects inside Silent Film Director depict different milestones in movie history, thus can make videos look like Silent Films from 20s, vintage movies from 50s or hippie style home videos from 60s and 70s. The app has built-in soundtracks and also allows uploading music from iPod and Computer.
Another notable feature is a possibility to upload video clips from a special sharing folder via iTunes, unlike most other video apps which support uploading from the camera roll or no video uploading at all.
The movie can be rendered in low, normal, high and HD quality. Users can
