Web 2.0

Wow... thanks to my subscription to Wired Magazine I read an article about Web 2.0. I get asked all the time what web 2.0 is and now I have an easy 5min response....click here!

It's a You tube video that I have found particularly insightful especially in light of all the websites we're currently growing. Web 2.0 isn't usually the first phase of a website but it can certainly be integrated at the beginning to encourage growth and readership.


Let me know your thoughts and enjoy the video.

Cheers
Tim

P.S. I had the awesome experience of staying at "The Pantages" hotel in Toronto....what a terrific "boutique" hotel...the service was phenomenal...concierge super helpful (he was able to hook me up with tickets for the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You' - must see)... romantic weekend for two....and I got a new pair of shoes!

Sony HDR-HC7 Review

Well first of all I must thank Steve at G&G Electonics in Scarborough for directing me to the perfect camcorder for my semi-pro business. Specializing in web design/hosting and print it was a natural progression to incorporate video. With more and more websites offering streaming video and down loadable videos it became apparent that I needed to invest time and money developing this part of the business.

At first I purchased the HDR-HC5. Basically the same High Definition Camcorder as the HDR-HC7 but without the ability to plugin a headset and non proprietary microphone. I did some shooting with the HC5 and found the quality absolutely remarkable. The colours were vibrant and the sound in a controlled environment was excellent. HDR-HC7 with the ability to take an external microphone really helps the pro side of the business. When just shooting video of my family at the zoo it's not necessary but when shooting a short commercial video of a Yoga routine for a DVD or a Real Estate video the external mic and head phones are extremely handy.

I basically started with a Digital Camcorder from Panasonic and got used to the basics of videography. I learned right away that the best way to get a good shot is to use even a cheap tripod. You can find them on Ebay for $35-75 and the quality of your shooting will go up immensely. Coming back to the Sony HDR-HC7, I have found that the jump in quality from a regular digital camcorder to a High Definition Camcorder is huge. The photos are excellent the on screen Sony functions are clean and easy to navigate and it's super light. I would highly recommend the HC5 for home use and the HC7 for semi-pro use in an instant. If you've had some experience with these items I'd love to hear back from you.
Cheers
Tim

P.S. The guys at G&G Electronics were amazing, I had to switch the item more than 30 days after the purchase and Gerry/Steve were extremely helpful. No restocking fees or hassles at all. On the day of purchase of the HC5 I must have spent more than an hour asking lots of questions before purchasing the camcorder but Steve was really helpful and knowledgeable. If you have to purchase electornics in the Toronto area I would highly recommend their location. The service was exceptional.

First Blog Entry! How to Download YouTube Videos to your Desktop

Have you ever wanted to download YouTube videos and save them for future viewing?

I had a client ask me to download a video which had their business name mentioned. They asked me if it was possible. No problem I'll figure it out.

Step one download the video.

The easiest way to do this I found, rather than searching through your temp folders is to visit

http://www.techcrunch.com/get-youtube-movie/

and enter the link to the video. (Just cut and paste the url from Internet Explorer)

Step Two you need to convert it to AVI. This is probably easiest because you will probably already have a Media pplayer like Windows Media player installed. If you're on a Mac you can download an AVI player.

Conversion is pretty simple. Al l you need to do is download the FREE Riva Encoder from:

http://www.rivavx.com

From their you can just direct the input directory to the file you want to convert and press Encode. If you want it to convert to an AVI just replace the .flv with .avi. and then click on the Encode.

Super simple but really handy.

Cheers

Tim