You’ve got to love Web kitsch. The YouTube tube socks probably still take the cake in my mind, but slide show creation tool Animoto’s latest offering isn’t too shabby either.
Twenty dollars gets your rave-worthy slide shows burned onto DVDs and sent to friends and family members. To go hand in hand with that, the service has also bolstered resolutions two-fold, bumping up the respectable 432×240 videos to 864×480 while simultaneously increasing the frame rate from 15 to 24 fps–the same as a motion picture projector.
The more massive sizes come at a price though. The extra resolutions cost an extra $5, but can be applied to previously created shows. That extra resolution is most noticeable on big-screen TVs and personal displays. The company is making these more massive videos available in one of two formats–an ISO file that can be burned straight to DVDs to be playable in set-top boxes (using a program like Nero), as well as a QuickTime MOV file that can be squirreled away on your hard drive or sent to friends using big file transfer and hosting services.
The folks at Animoto have put together a really useful head-to-head demo here, where you can see the standard versus premium videos right next to one another. Below is a still capture from the same shot.
NEW YORK–If there were a meter of World wide web “fameballing,” as Gawker likes to dub those fine folks who get famous on the Internet for something and keep getting more and more notorious although most people aren’t really sure why, it would’ve been flying off the charts on …
What if your nightlife agenda was dictated not by text messages, phone calls, or your city edition of Time Out, but by a shifting pattern of dots on a Google Map?
As absurd as it might sound, a New York company called Sense Networks thinks that’s the solution. On …
Greenlight’s Einhorn: Lehman Still `Poor Risk’ -Fox Business Last Update: 6/10/2008 11:01:39 AM DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Greenlight Capital Inc. Chairman David Einhorn, a short-seller and critic of Lehman Brothers Inc. (LEH), Tuesday declined to specify a price target on the company’s stock, but stated it remains on his short list. In an interview on the Fox Business Network, Einhorn stated Lehman’s […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net
I’m on my first train ride of my adult life … right now. Actually, the train hasn’t even started moving. As a (shamefully) frequent flier, I’m used to airplanes. Somehow, I thought they were simply the ideal way to cover long distances.
But I’ve been on this train for less than 10 minutes and I’ve already spotted about 20 things that make this a much more pleasant experience than flying. My list so far:
No wait, no security. Amtrak asks passengers to be at the train 30 minutes before departure. If you show up a little late, you simply walk straight on the train and find a seat that looks good to you.
If you want to pee, go pee… There’s never a time on a train when you can’t stand up and do whatever you want. And that includes having a nice lunch in the dining car, which is what I’m going to go do now.
The seats ACTUALLY RECLINE! Instead of the 1.5 inches of lean that the little silver button provides on a plane, Amtrak’s large black button gives a recline of about eight inches. I could actually sleep in this chair! If I wasn’t so excited about how much it reclines.
PLUGS! Some planes are starting to finally provide power jacks so we have the ability to keep charged through long flights. But all Amtrak trains have a three-pronged jacks to keep you electrified throughout your journey.
No NAGGING: It’s a frikkin pleasure not having someone bug me about my seatback and tray tables and whether my electronic device is approved for that particular segment of the trip. And no seatbelts at all! Whether or not it’s technically safe, it’s certainly more comfortable.
Legroom: As a six-foot-plus guy, I notice a couple extra inches here. And it’s nice.
No beverage cart slamming into your knees and elbows. The beverage cart on a plane completely ensures that you never ever ever put any piece of your body into the aisle. Well, the train aisle is considerably wider, for one, and the cart is nonexistent.
Treats: If you happen to want a cheese danish on an airplane, you’re out of luck. Not here my friends … and the cost of stated treats is much more modest than the $5 you’ll pay for a snack pack on American Airlines filled with crap you probably don’t even want.
You handle your baggage. If you lose your bags on a train, it’s your fault. There’s no waiting at the baggage claim and no worrying about how the baggage handlers (or TSA) will treat your bags.
And all of the additional, each day benefits remain. It’s cheaper, more environmentally friendly, you can use cell phones and there are even some cars with beds.
I’ll be excitedly posting this as soon as I have World wide web access again (my one complaint). But otherwise, this is an excellent and pleasant way to travel.
At Barcade, the Wiimbledon finals. Facing the Television in hot combat are Dylan Romero (in white) and Corey Craig (in bumblebee hues). Romero emerged the winner.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)
NEW YORK–This past weekend, the professional tennis world might have been focused on the antics of Rafael Nadal …
Tokyo, Seoul lower; oil shares zip higher By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch Last Update: 6/8/2008 10:35:00 PM HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Asian indexes clocked heavy losses Monday, with blue-chip automotive and technology companies lower following a sharp sell-off in New York Friday. Energy-related shares such as Inpex Holding were among the few bright spots as crude-oil prices hovered near $138 a barrel. Japan’s […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net
In an unexpected move, video site Hulu will be getting some political loudmouths just in time for the 2008 presidential election: Comedy Central’s late-night personalities Jon Stewart of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report.
We had to check and make sure the press release wasn’t a joke, but there are indeed full episodes from both programs available. It comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering Comedy Central parent company Viacom has not signed on to Hulu, which launched as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. and does not yet have any other major networks on board.
But on the other hand, MTV Networks, the Viacom division that encompasses Comedy Central, has made more distribution deals than its broader corporate overlord, and both Stewart and Colbert were already available on the Web in one form or another. And Viacom had already made choose content available to Hulu rival Joost, but now that the Joost hype has faded absolutely, experimenting with Hulu’s ad-supported distribution seems logical. Making the popular Comedy Central talk shows available could be the media conglomerate’s way of dipping a toe in the water.
Additionally, later in June Hulu will begin to add select programs from PBS: Nova, Carrier, Scientific American Frontiers, Wired Science, and potentially others.
This bring’s Hulu’s count of programming content partners up to more than 70.
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