MobileViews Blog

Tag: video

  • Replace “telephone company” with “Google” or “Microsoft” in this 1960s Lily Tomlin customer service video

    Microsoft let Windows Mobile users know that the Windows Mobile Marketplace will shut down on May 9, 2012 and that Applications and games acquired from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone will continue to work after the service is discontinued on May 9, 2012. However, additional downloads of these applications and games from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service will no longer be available. This may not be a huge issue for people who did not buy apps through the marketplace (I did not). But, it may be a problem for those who did and need to hard reset a Windows Mobile device to restore functionality. People who bought Windows Mobile phones in the fall of 2010 before Windows Phone was released will have a less than 2 year old phone that cannot restore some apps in the event of a loss or hard reset.

    This situation also illustrates a problem with all of the single platform stores that have sprung up since Apple led the way with its ultra-successful iOS App Store, however. And, it makes one pause to wonder what will happen if Microsoft ever stops supporting the Windows 8 app store since WOA users cannot get apps outside of that venue.

    The 1960s Lily Tomlin video above may be useful in attempting to understand Microsoft’s (and perhaps Google too) customer service attitude.

  • Video Recorded with 5th gen. iPod nano Compared to Flip Ultra

    MobileViews: 5th gen. iPod nano Video Compared to Flip Ultra from Todd Ogasawara on Vimeo.

    You can see my first comparison of the same scene recorded using the new 5th generation iPod nano and the Flip Ultra. Both record at 640×480. The iPod nano video seems a lot darker than the Flip Ultra video. But, I’m beginning to think that it may be because it auto-focused on the rain drops. If you look at both video recordings, you’ll note that the rain drops seen in the iPod nano video are distinct and in-focus while the rain drops in the Flip Ultra video are blurred lines. However, the scene beyond the sheet of drops is easier to see.

    I obviously need to do more comparison testing.

  • Podcast 33: FloTV Streaming TV Programs-Jonathan Barzilay, Head of Programming

    In Podcast 33 I spoke with FloTV‘s Head of Programming, Jonathan Barzilay, about what FloTV delivers (streaming commercial video), what it delivers it to (phones with special hardware to receive the programming), how it is delivered (the old/former UHF channel 55 spectrum), and the oddity (to me) of the new 1 to 2pm mobile TV viewing prime time.

    This podcast is 17 minutes and 12 seconds long.

    – You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
    – You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
    – You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

  • TyTn Windows Mobile 6 Oddball MP4 Video File Format

    The HTC TyTn is a great Pocket PC Professional Edition device. Mine was upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 last year and has been working great. I noticed one oddity about it that finally turned to bite me yesterday though. I noticed that the only video recording format supported is MP4. This didn’t bother me until I tried to bring video recording I made of the line formed outside of a local Apple store yesterday. Nothing I had on a Windows PC or Mac could bring the MP4 file in and edit it. I tried Windows Mobile Maker, VLC Player (which can transcode files), iSquint, and iMovie. All of them complained about the files audio track. I finally ended up uploading the raw MP4 file to YouTube. YouTube was able to deal with it. But, I wish I had be able to put a title on it and maybe splice in a shorter second video file I made.

  • Want to Try out the QIK Streaming Software? I Have 500 Invitations

    Have a Samsung or Motorola Windows Mobile phone and want to try out the QIK streaming video service? I have 500 invitations to give away. Here’s how to get one. Check the QIK phone compatibility list before asking for an invitation though…

    QIK sign-up and compatible phone list

    After you sign-up at the link above, send an e-mail to mobileviews(at-sign)qik.com. Type in the same phone number you used during the web sign-up process in the subject line. QIK will send an SMS message to your phone with the download link after you approved.

  • Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 Webcam Took Pretty Good Conference Videos


    I bought a Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000 notebook webcam last year (device on the right in the photo above). Its video and audio quality is good. However, the mounting clip is awful. It fits on the top of most notebook LCD lids, but is otherwise useless. So, I bought the newer Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 notebook webcam (device on the left in the photo above) a few weeks ago. Instead of a clip, it has what might be described as a simple articulated arm. It can be used as a sort of counter balance when sitting on a notebook lid. However, it can also be used as a stand on any other surface.

    I used it to video record presentations a few days ago. I was sitting about 25 feet from the person speaking (unamplified) in a semi-darkened room (for PowerPoint presentations). I was very surprised at the high quality video (640×480 at 30fps) and decent audio quality. Although the audio volume was a little low, every word could be understood from a variety of speakers with varying levels of loudness and voice types.

    I had the VX-7000 plugged into a Dell Latitude D620 notebook running Windows Vista Business Edition (32-bit version) and used the simple video recording software that comes with the webcam. The next step is to import that video into Microsoft Movie Maker and use its audio amplification option to boost the voice volume. I expect that it will also increase the ambient noise. But, I’m hoping that result will still be acceptable for informal video note-taking purposes.