Sunday, June 08, 2008

Technology At The Speed of Light

Not too long ago this morning I finished the post about my birthday celebration at the aquarium (see below). Since then I opened my presents, and put together and used the one from my spouse--a piece of technology, of course. But it's not just any piece of technology. It's the blogger's wet dream, a Flip Video--a video camera that looks like your first Barbie camera (mine's pink, like the one in the picture) and is about as easy to use. You put in the AA batteries, you turn it on, you point, you shoot, you flip open the USB adapter, plug the camera ino the computer, and, Voila!

I kid you not, the instructions are about two lines long, and it just... works. Hardware manufacturers who incorporate a software interface have been promising plug and play ease of use for years, but very (VERY) few of them deliver. My first technological oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-how-great-this-is in many years came from the iPhone (Dave's birthday present to me last year) and then I got another big zing from the Amazon Kindle. Now my first foray into the new generation of video technology has raised the bar on what I can do both on Glass Incarnate (video walk-arounds in the studio and at shows, tutorials) and on Stranded in the South (the Jessie video opportunities alone boggle my mind and are going to thrill the grandparents).

So without further ado, here's my first effort:

6 comments:

Bill said...

Cool.

I may have to buy one for Bridget.

What makes the Kindle worth its price, by the way?

Jodi said...

Very cool! I think I really want an iPhone, but maybe just because almost everyone I know has one. Ha!

Reese said...

A wall of CDs!!!! *pant pant*

gratz on the birthday and the gizmo :)

Brenda Griffith said...

Not cd's, dvd's! Dave's obsession...

Brenda Griffith said...

And Jodi, with all the video you do to the web, this is a perfect thing (and much cheaper than an iPhone at $129 from Amazon...)

Brenda Griffith said...

I used all my saved up "points" from my Amazon Visa to get he Kindle so I only ended up paying $19.95 for it. I don't know if I would have purchased it now otherwise. But having non-stop books on one perfectly sized, perfectly balanced device--a device which also allows me to download new books directly to it in under a minute (instant gratification cubed and squared) is wonderful. Even better is being able to change the font size depending on the time of day and lighting conditions so I don't have to go hunting for the always elusive reading glasses. The only downsides are not being able to share books with non-Kindle owners and not being able to read in the bath (though I am just about to try the ziploc bag protection method).