Corner Geeks 7: Live Streaming - Part 2

We get back into podcast producing and we resume our topic on “Live Streaming” (part 1 here) giving details of how to set up a more advanced live streaming system. Some related links on the topics we covered are listed below. Feel free to add your own links in the comments with regards to tools you use for live streaming

Live Streaming Services

  • uStream (Free): has co-hosting, recording features and mobile client (iOS, Android, Windows Phone)
  • Justin.tv (Free): has desktop and mobile clients(iOS, Android)
  • Livestream (Free)
  • Stickam (Free): co-hosting and mobile clients (iOS, Android, J2ME)
  • Vokle (Free): new and modern with good co-hosting feature and recording. Latency was an issue when we used it. No mobile client
  • Google Plus (Free): not really live streaming but can have up to 10 people video chat but latency was good
  • Vidyo (commercial)
  • Bitgravity (commercial)
  • Wowza: set up your own streaming server (i.e. make your own uStream.tv)

Live Streaming Utilities

Video Effects

  • uStream Producer (Free: OS X, Windows): easy transitions and allows output of webcam/pictures/movies/screen/music and also has PIP support. No text overlays
  • CamTwist (Free: OS X): powerful with many video effects. can do screen casting, slideshows, movie playback, changing of video sources, text and image overlays and so much more
  • ManyCam (Free: OS X, Windows): easier than CamTwist to use, has screen casting, displaying of images (slideshow), movies, text overlays
  • Webcam Studio for Linux (Free: Linux): seems like a CamTwist for Linux which advance functionality

Other Hardware

  • Eye-Fi: an SD card with wireless capabilities for wireless transfer from camera to computer
  • Zoom H1: used as a line-in recorder

Video Switching

  • BoinxTV (Commercial, Software): software is to be installed on a Mac to provide TV studio like functionality. Check out Daniel’s video of how it used it for the Making of Gear 65 #28
  • Tricaster (Commercial, Software & Hardware)
  • Sony Anycast (Commercial, Software & Hardware)

Audio Effects

  • Line-in (Free, OS X): simple tool that sends audio from one sound device to another
  • LadioCast (Free, OS X): an Icecast client but has the ability to do audio mixer and piping
  • Soundflower (Free, OS X): creates 2 sound devices which can be used as streams to pipe audio from one app to another
  • JACK (Free, Linux, OS X): Jack OS X - similar to Soundflower
  • VACard (Free, Windows)

Corner Geeks 6: The Nokia N9

Nokia N9 Related Links

Notable Hardware Specifications

  • Quad-band GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
  • Penta-band WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100
  • Screen size: 3.9"
  • Resolution: 16:9 FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels)
  • AMOLED display
  • Capacitive touch screen
  • 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
  • HD quality video capture in 720p resolution at 30 fps
  • Wide-angle lens
  • Large lens aperture F2.2 for better and faster photos in low light conditions
  • Dual LED flash
  • Continuous autofocus
  • Touch-to-focus and exposure lock
  • Internal memory: 16 GB or 64 GB
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Dedicated power, camera and volume keys
  • NFC (Near Field Communication) for easy pairing and sharing
  • WLAN IEEE802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
  • High-Speed USB 2.0 with micro USB connector for transferring data and charging
  • 3.5 mm AV connector
  • Micro SIM card

Notable Software Specifications

  • MeeGo for Nokia N9 (MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan)
  • User interface simplified to three home views: events, applications and open apps
  • Swipe gesture instantly takes you back to the home view you started from
  • Multitasking and app switching through open apps view: a live snapshot of all running apps
  • Apps compliant with Qt 4.7
  • Software updates over the internet
  • Support for MS Outlook synchronisation of contacts, calendar and to-do with Mail for Exchange
  • Support for viewing documents in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF and Open Document Formats
  • Online calendar synchronisation with CalDAV

Corner Geeks 5 Part 3: WWDC 2011 - iCloud

Check out Justin Lee’s keypoint summary of the keynote or just refer to Apple’s iCloud page or the features page for their info about iCloud.

Brief Show Notes

  • What is cloud?
    • Save once. Uploaded and Distributed ‘everywhere’ (i.e. all your devices)
  • 9 uses:
    1. Contacts
    2. Calendar
    3. Mail
    4. Apps Store
    5. iBooks
    6. Backup
      • Daily wifi backups
      • Music / Apps / Books
      • Camera Roll
      • Device Settings
      • App Data
    7. Docs
    8. Photos
    9. iTunes
  • 1,2,3,7) Contacts / Calendar / Mail / Docs:
    • similar to Android and Google or Exchange
    • change once, push everywhere (locally stored vs cloud stored for Google for docs at least)
    • Google at least can access from web. Apple to find out
  • 4,5,9) Apps / iBooks / iTunes
    • Buy once, deploy everywhere or look through purchase history. click to download
    1. Daily cloud backup (huge I think. I agree. Google could have done this for Android but doesnt. I want to rant about Android here haha.)
    1. Photo stream
    • Syncs photos taken anywhere to all attached devices
      • iOS Devices
      • PCs
      • Apple TV
    • Like Eye-Fi. kind of but requires Internet. Eye-Fi can be local transfer to PC.
    • 1000 photos stored on the device (to save permanently to device, move pic to album)
    • 30 Days limit for all shots on cloud
    • Photos all on PC all saved (iPhoto integeration?)
    • I think this kind of functionality is useful for photographers. I’m suprised not a lot of Bruniean photographers use Eye-Fis.
    1. Documents in Cloud / iCloud API (There could be an actual iDisk like thing for normal documents?)
    • iCloud API: Looks like dropbox but seems to be like it’s centered on sandboxes per app basis?
    • Obvious ones are things like Pages and Keynote
    • Being able to sync settings for apps.
      • Game saves
      • To have something like Kindle’s Book resume thing.
      • Hopefully alternative browsers can setup something like Google Sync. Syncs my tabs and bookmarks. Please make this happen.
  • Similar to other exiting services:
  • Possible Issues:
    • Will there be sharing? Or only to personal account?
    • Data caps / be sure not to use all your data quota and end up paying
    • Do we get offline backup?
    • All your data, are belong to fruit
  • 5GB storage space (unsure which files are categorized in the 5GB, but music / photos not included in the quota)
  • Free, No ads
  • Available in the Fall (most likely September) but some features available now with iTunes update on Mac/PC or App Store update on iDevices

Corner Geeks 5 Part 2: WWDC 2011 - iOS5

Check out Justin Lee’s keypoint summary of the keynote or just refer to Apple’s iOS5 page or the features page for their info about iOS5.

Brief Show Notes

  • Lots of ‘finally’s
    • Notification Centre
      • Similar to Android: swipe down from top to see all notifications
      • But done better than Android
        • When notification comes in, shows snippet of info at top of screen then disappears
        • Notifications shown on lock screen
        • Direct access to act on notification from lock screen (swipe notification to access)
      • Also has 10 msg limit per app. MobileNotifier (the jailbreak app) has more. UI could be better on mobilenotifier though.
    • PC-less activation (makes it more of a standalone device and with iCloud could be a fuller laptop replacement)
    • iTunes-less
    • Wireless sync
    • Camera Upgrades.
      • Shutter button.
      • Launch from lockscreen (Double-tap home button and click on icon)
      • Crop photos, red-eye reduction, one-click enhancement filter thing (auto white balance, levels, etc similar to Preview on OS X)
      • Can create albums on iOS!
    • Delta Updates!! (no more 600+MB per update) Over the air!
  • Nice to have
    • Reading list (similar to instapaper / Read It Later): only Safari? no where else to access?
    • Reader view
    • Reminders (similar to Locale / Tasker for Android but those are commercial apps)
    • News stand: for magazine subscriptions.
    • Twitter Integration.
      • Twitter’s trying to be what OpenID wants to be? Online Identity?
      • Syncs Twitter Photo to contacts. (similar to what Android does)
      • Nice that it allows user to try diff apps without relogin (Though currently this still doesn’t work yet. Apps need to rewrite their apps. Even official Twitter App)
      • Twitter sharing in Photos / apps nice
      • Android sharing superior as doesn’t have to wait for Google to implement new share options: app needs to support receiving data
    • Photo editing
    • iPad
  • iMessage (lot of focus on security. mention encryption)
    • Replaces iOS SMS app. ie: could be seamless for normal users.
    • Allows iPod and iPads to use. Not sure about Mac, but it’ll be great if it could. (WhatsApp! not available for non 3G / cellulare devices like iPod Touch / iPad WiFi only)
    • Alternatives
    • Competitor Ecosystem Alternatives
      • Google: GTalk
      • Microsoft: Skype?
      • RIM: BBM
  • Some stuff not mentioned on keynote but is pretty cool
    • Typing shortcuts / macros. ie: the default on the OS was “omw” would autocomplete to “On my way”
    • Some UI improvements. Toggles in options.
    • Custom vibrations for incoming calls.
    • LED light can be used as notifications (older phones have had this: on Android side depends on manufacturer)
  • iOS5 beta and jailbreak
  • Available in the Fall (September earliest?)

Corner Geeks 5 Part 1: WWDC 2011 - Lion

This week @mfirdaus and I talk about this week’s WWDC 2011. We will split this in 3 parts: Lion, iOS5 and iCloud as the discussion got pretty long. If you want to watch the video of the keynote click here but also do check out Justin Lee’s keypoint summary of the keynote or just refer to Apple’s what’s new section for their info about Lion.

Show Notes for WWDC 2011 Keynote on Lion

  • Bringing iOS to desktop: Trying to convert PC users using iOS devices to a Mac
  • User Interaction Changes
    • Multi touch gestures
    • Reverse scrolling, Smooth zooming. Scroll bars no longer unless scroll (iOS-like behaviours)
    • Emphasis on fullscreen app support (more for developers: OS supports fullscren better )
    • Launchpad: iOS-like launcher for apps
    • Mission Control: Can see everything in other spaces. Can manage spaces easier.
  • Airdrop: File sharing done easy/right for intranet (transfers encrypted)
  • Document versioning & Auto Save
    • Could be big for consumers and offices.
    • But will work with only iWork or all apps? (app needs to implement or an OS native feature)
    • Visual comparison similar to Time Machine interface: Can actually view old document to copy and paste
    • No need to manually save: new save as a new version
    • Delta saving so it saves only the changes (to save space)
  • Resume: Saving of program state: inspectors, window position automatically saved and restored when application reopened
  • Apps / MacStore
    • Delta Update
    • In-app purchases
    • Push Notifications
    • Apps install on all authorized comps: Buy once, deploy to all authorized computers. Good for consumers
  • New Mail app with updates
  • 250+ new features
    • Mostly are incremental
    • Some notable ones:
      • Full Disk Encryption
      • Quicktime: merge and rotate videos
      • Quicktime: record selected region
  • Price: USD$30. ~4GB only available on the Mac Store

Corner Geeks 4: New Media & An Introduction to Live Streaming

Corner Geeks Episode 4 is live and this week we’re talking about New Media and give an introduction to Live Streaming. In the future we will cover Live Streaming in more details including the setup we used for live steaming the Ran8adidas event at ICC at the end of June.

Related Links

Corner Geeks 3: Portal 2

We talk about Portal 2, one of the best games of this year and one of the games that has captured people’s hearts and minds (mine included) with the great voice acting, humour and songs that started with Portal 1. Great great songs written by Jonathan Coulton and sung by Ellen McLain

P.S. Portal 2 ringtones are free (for now?) so go download them now!

Other Links:

Still Alive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI

Want You Gone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVVZaZ8yO6o

Corner Geeks 2: Icecast

We talk about Icecast: the streaming server that can serve audio and now even video and used in productions such as TWiT.am

Source Clients are needed to connect to the server to provide the audio to stream out. Some that we used are listed below:

Other 3rd party software for Icecast is available here and check out the Icecast Streaming Media Server Forum for any queries

Introducing the Corner Geeks

So after a month after recording our first episode, here we go: Firdaus (@mfirdaus) and I talk about OS X with his recent purchase of his MacBook Air, and the discussion goes a bit technical/inside-baseball talking about keyboard shortcuts and we even ended up talking a bit about the iPad.

Do let us know what you think: feedback is highly appreciated =) Tweet us: @thewheat / @mfirdaus