Weblog of Fernando Reig Matthies » Video

Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

FReigM — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:33:00 +0000

Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat: “Posted by Justin Uberti, Software Engineer

I’m a big user of Gmail chat. Being able to switch from email to chat as needed, all within the same app, is really great for productivity. But people can only type so fast, and even with our new emoticons, there are still some things that just can’t be expressed in a chat message.

That’s why today we’re launching voice and video chat—right inside Gmail. We’ve tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video—all for free. All you have to do is download and install the voice and video plugin and we take care of the rest. And in the spirit of open communications, we designed this feature using Internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264, which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat.

Once you install the plugin, to start a video chat, just click on the ‘Video & more’ menu at the bottom of your Gmail chat window, and choose ‘Start video chat.’ You’ll have a few seconds to make sure you look presentable while it’s ringing, and then you’ll see and hear your friend live, right from within Gmail. You can click the ‘pop-out’ iconto make the video larger, or click the fullscreen iconin the upper left-hand corner for a fully immersive experience. See this all in action in the video below:

Our team is spread between Google offices in the US and Sweden, and video has really changed the way we work. Collaborating across continents and timezones is a fact of life for us, and it sure is easier (and greener) to click ‘Start video chat’ than to get on a plane! And when I do have to visit another Google office, I can use Gmail voice and video chat to check in with my family.

We’ve just started to roll out Gmail voice and video chat for both PCs and Macs, so if you don’t see it right away, don’t worry—it could take a day or so for this feature to be available in all Gmail and Google Apps accounts. If you want to download the plugin right away, visit http://gmail.com/videochat. And if you need a webcam, there are a few models with special discounts through November 30th (I use the QuickCam Pro 9000 myself).

Via Gmail Blog

Twitter in plain english

FReigM — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:07:12 +0000

Via Common Craft

Student’s Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time

FReigM — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:04:41 +0000

New York Times:

The idea that you do not have to be a professional to create a good commercial is becoming widespread, in a trend known as consumer-generated content. Leave it to Apple to paraphrasing the company’s old slogan a bit think differently.

A television commercial for the new iPod Touch from Apple, scheduled to begin running on Sunday, 10-28 is being created by the longtime Apple agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day. It is based on a commercial that an 18-year-old English student and Apple devotee named Nick Haley, who says he got his first Macintosh when he was 3 created on his own one day last month.

His spot offers a fast-paced tour of the abilities of the iPod Touch, set to a song titled ‘Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex’ by a Brazilian band, CSS.

Mr. Haley said he was inspired to make the commercial by a lyric in the song, ‘My music is where I’d like you to touch.’

He based the visual elements on video clips about the iPod Touch and other new products, which can be watched on the Apple Web site (apple.com). He uploaded his commercial to YouTube, where it received four stars out of a possible five and comments that ranged from ‘That’s awesome,’ followed by 16 exclamation points, to ‘Makes me want to buy one and hack it.’

Via fscklog

How I built my family a windmill

FReigM — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 10:17:11 +0000

When he was 14, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill using spare parts and plans he found in a library book.

BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess

FReigM — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:22:26 +0000

I had seen a demo of BumpTop before on YouTube and for many weeks there where rumors about Leopard, Apple’s new OS X 10.5, getting this sort of interface for it’s new Finder.

Nothing of that will happen, as Steve Jobs told us at the last WWDC ‘07, what we know is that we will get Cover Flow style views in our trusty Finder.

What opened my eyes in this video is that same UI approach used with digital images, which really resembles a shoe-box full of photographs one may have.

A demo of this occurs at the very end in the following video.

Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo

FReigM — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:23:10 +0000

Blaise Aguera y Arcas, an employee of Microsoft Live Labs, gives a talk at the TED2007 (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference about the much (and deservedly so) hyped Photosynth:

YouTube meets Apple TV

FReigM — Wed, 30 May 2007 21:33:19 +0000

YouTube Coming to Apple TV: “This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

“YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room.”Apple also introduced iTunes Plus today, 256 kbps AAC encoding and no DRM. That means you can play it on iPod and other digital music players and an unlimited number of computers.

In less than a month we will get the iPhone and the final beta of Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, before it ships in October.I’m in heaven!

(Via Apple.)

Nicolás first steps

FReigM — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:59:14 +0000

Link to blooper.

The iPod revolution

FReigM — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:41:57 +0000

I’ve came across this Discovery Channel special about the birth and history of one of my most beloved gadgets of all time.

I had a great time watching Steve Jobs returning to Apple, references to Napster, birth of the first iPod back in October 2001 and other great info about the iPod.

Are we going to see an iPod phone next tuesday at MacWorld Expo 2007? Why is Cesar Alierta (chief at Telefonica and 108# Fortune rank) going to meet Steve Jobs (159# Fortune rank) soon?

Why do I have to carry, sync and charge my phone and iPod separately? No I don’t want the Motorola Rokr phone.

TubeSock

FReigM — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:34:29 +0000

TubeSock: Rip. Mix. Copy to iPod.

TubeSock grabs YouTube videos from the web and copies them to your video iPod, Mac, or PlayStation Portable.

TubeSock knows how to convert the video using the codecs and bitrates best for each device. It can even add the video to iTunes for you.

TubeSock costs $15. Until you register, TubeSock will convert only the first 30 seconds of a video.