The Consumer’s Corner

Digital camcorders are dropping in price every week, and the feature sets on consumer level models continue to expand. Combine that with free video hosting services like YouTube, it’s now not only possible to produce something of decent quality, but develop an audience as well.  The problem is, unless you have an uncanny eye and sense of production, you’re going to need to edit these videos before posting!

Mac users have iMovie, and I’m incredibly happy for them. I’ve used it, found it to be a very productive program, but I’m a PC guy. Steve Jobs doesn’t care about me. And that’s fine, I’m not his biggest fan either. He produces over priced equipment, and cares more for form than function.

Windows Movie Maker is a cute little program that I’ve used to create some nice looking pieces, but the feature set is a bit limited. Works great in a pinch though, and syncs well with Windows DVD Maker. It’s very intuitive, and is great to learn with before you invest in more advanced software. I recommend it for absolute beginners.

But I found that I needed something more, but not too much. Adobe was great, but it’s really geared towards the professional. I just kind of got lost in it. After hours of careful research, I found that Sony Vegas Movie Studio might be firmly anchored in that ‘middle ground’ between ‘beginner’ and ‘pro.’ For under $100, you can be well on your way to producing some snazzy looking stuff.

The are three different versions, and I recommend purchasing the most full featured one you can afford; with things like this it’s best to have more than you need, and not the other way around. The package includes software to make royalty free sound tracks, a package of sound effects, a DVD suite, and some other cool goodies. Best part is, everything is up-gradable, so you’re not locked into a feature set.

There is room to grow as well. Once you become a master editor, Vegas offers a ‘Pro’ suite for experts. Everything you learn should transfer over. All thing considered, I think Vegas Movie Studio may be your best bet for balance between features, ease of use, and cost. (I’d try eBay if you’re considering purchasing, it’s often cheaper)

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

This review should have been composed a month ago, and I honestly thought that I did. Am I going a little senile at the ripe old age of 25? Getting a bit ‘touched’ in the head, maybe? Who knows. I’m just glad that I realized this egregious mistake, and it’s now time to rectify the situation. Consumers, I bring you Digsby. Better late than never, right?

Just what the heck is Digsby? Well, it’s a multi-account instant messaging client that connects you to all of the major (and some of the not so major!) instant messengers. It also keeps you in touch with your favorite social networks (even Twitter, look me up!), and helps you keep tabs on multiple email accounts. There may be a dish-washing option as well; I wont even pretend to think I’ve done everything there is to do with the program.

Trillian used to be my weapon of choice for this type of do-it-all IM program, but they seem to have become a bit lazy with their updates, and I was wanting something that would handle Facebook chat (again, look me up!). The integrated email checker is awesome, too. I can delete junk email without having to load up the sites in my browser, and should I find something worth reading, it’s just a click away.

Digsby is so convenient, so useful, and so much a part of my online existence now, that I’ve included it in my Windows ‘Start Up’ menu. That’s the ‘Holy Grail’ of awards that I can give to any software; it’s just something that I RARELY do. Digsby is just that handy; I want it available to me at all times, start-up to shutdown.

Definitely recommended; I’ve touted it’s usefulness, but it’s a great value as well. Free! Also a very pretty looking piece of software, it can even be skinned and customized to make it look even better. Only issue I’ve had is getting videochat to work. Bummer. But nothing is perfect; go get it!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

A long, long time ago I posted an article on a little piece of mobile phone software named GoBible. I love that program, it has served me quite well over the years, but since upgrading to the iPhone, I couldn’t just couldn’t help but believe that something a little bit better was available. As usual, I was correct.

Long story short, I opened the App Store, hit ‘Search,’ and typed in ‘bible.’ The first thing available to click was ‘Bible,’ and it’s brought to you by YouVersion.com. It was free, so there was no harm in checking it out, so download it I did. I have not been disappointed in the least bit, and this iPhone App is becoming something I’d find very inconvenient to live without.

In this single App, you have access to multiple translations of the Bible, a time-tested daily reading plan, and quite a few commentaries. Often find yourself in an environment where Internet access is restricted (airplanes?)? You can download selected translations directly to your phone, and you’ll be good to go.

There are a few more Bible reading Apps available, but in terms of features and costs, this offering from YouVersion is difficult to beat. If you’re a spiritual person who reads the Bible often, this is a definite ‘Recommended!’

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

It’s taken a very long time, but I’m finally the proud owner of a (used) iPhone; 1st generation edition. My friend received the 3G as a Christmas present, and turned the older model over to me. I quickly pWned it, and have been loving it ever sense.

The theme of this site is value oriented products, and by their nature, iPhones are not exactly ‘bargains.’ They’re very much at the upper-end of the cellphone spectrum. But they’re also one of the most quickly adopted pieces of consumer electronic that has ever been released. So, just guessing, a few of my readers own one, and at least one of you regularly checks this site with it (according to my stat service). So, I used to ‘App Store’ to hunt for freebies that you can use, and are worth your time.

Undoubtedly, many of you have came across Pandora, a site that builds custom radio stations for you based on your likes, and dislikes, of various types of music. It’s a lot like StumbleUpon in a sense, it learns what you enjoy, and gives you more of it; all while exposing you to things you’d have never found otherwise.

Pandora’s iPhone App is really amazing; I played with it for three hours last night while battling insomnia. Beautiful in it’s simplicity, it is a breeze to use, the audio sounds great, and it takes the monotony out of your own music collection. That’s really all there is to say; controls are super simple; there’s only a thumbs up/down, skip, pause/play, and bookmarks. Everything is responsive and snappy.

I suggest all iPhone users give this a try, it can’t hurt. One of the easiest ‘Recommends’ I’ve ever been able to put forth.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

During my ‘hiatus’ this summer and fall, I purchased a neat little digital camera off of eBay. This little thing has become my constant companion; I rarely leave home without him (yes, my camera is male). Nothing too fancy; 6 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, a gig of memory. A bit simple, but it’s more than adequate for my needs.

What is not adequate is my skill as a photographer. I’ve gone through about a thousand shots now, and while I’m getting better as I go, this blogger will not be winning any Pulitzer’s anytime…. ever? It’s just a hobby, that’s all it will ever be. But, being the perfectionist I am, I want my ‘art’ to at least look good, even if it cannot be great.

Photoshop is completely impractical for hobbyists. The Gimp is very effective, and I still use it, but it does have a bit of a learning curve. So what’s a fellow to do when he wants to do a quick touch up, or his skill isn’t quite where it needs to be to do fancy effects? Enter Picnik, a free web-based photo editor.

I’d tell you it’s limited, but I honestly haven’t tried to do anything that Picnik is incapable of. You hardcore geniuses will find it’s limits rather quickly I assume, but you guys already have Photoshop, and the knowledge required to opperate it. Picnik is for the rest of us.

It will auto-correct some stuff, but it’s honestly more fun just to do it yourself while playing with brushes and sliders. Adjust lighting, colors, contrast, apply masks, do that neat ‘everything is black & white except for this or that’ effect; the sky is the limit. I’ve turned some fairly pedestrian looking shots into things that I wasn’t ashamed to upload to art sites like deviantArt, and they were well received. Do something wrong, and screw your photo up? Just hit undo! Or, don’t save it. Your original is never copied over unless you want it to be.

Upload photos into Picnik directly from many popular sites, including MySpace and Facebook. You can’t upload them to those sites yet (so far as I can tell), but I’m betting you will be able to in the future. Picnik is 100% free (‘Premium’ upgrade is available), and it doesn’t even require registration! Amazing. Considering it’s absolute lack of cost, usefulness, and user friendliness, this site is a no-brainer ‘Recommend!’

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

If you’ve been using some version of Microsoft Windows for nearly your entire life, it can be down right scary to boot up another operating system on your precious computer. Especially Linux. You’ve heard great things about it, but you’ve also heard it can be a geeks paradise, and you might need a computer science degree to operate it.

Then came Ubuntu. It’s a Linux distro that I’ve been paying attention to the past couple years, even going as far as to beta test their in-Windows installer, Wubi. Ubuntu is ‘Linux for human beings,’ meaning it was designed to be used by children and grandmothers alike, and Windows/Mac converters. The idea is to be able to be up and running without a mile long learning curve.

The latest version of the software has just recently been released, and I took it for a spin yesterday, using a LiveCD. A ‘LiveCD’ is a disk image of the Ubuntu operating system that you can run from your CD drive, so you can try before you ‘buy.’ I was really impressed, and I’m very tempted to attempt to turn my system into a dual-boot machine.

Everything loaded very quickly, as far as I could tell all my hardware was recognized, my wireless card worked(!), speakers, everything. And even despite the fact it was running off of a CD (well, I used a DVD), it had my computer just humming. Never has it ran so fast in a ‘Windows’ environment.

No one at this point could tell someone with a brand new computer that Linux is the way to go, and you’ll be just fine formatting your hard drive and doing a dedicated install. There are still limitations, and getting certain things to work in Linux will be infinitely more difficult than in Windows. That will continue to be the case until software and hardware manufacturers embrace Linux as a whole.

So who do I recommend this for? People who have a spare computer lying around in the garage, that became orphaned after an upgrade. Or disgruntled Windows users who either deliberately pirated XP, or were unfortunate enough that someone decided to upgrade them at a repair shop. Right out of the gate, without any tweaking, Ubuntu can make an unused machine productive again; it handles the basics of word processing and internet browsing with ease. As you get more comfortable, you can try some more complicated tasks, but there is zero need to open a command prompt to do your more common, remedial tasks.

The best thing, it’s completely free, completely legal. It is ‘open source’ software, so it experiences a constant flow of updates, as there are huge teams of people that do nothing but fish out bugs to squash. I look forward to dabbling in the future; I have a dusty XP system with decent specs that is going to get a face lift soon!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

AbiWord – Super Simple Processing was/is one of my most read articles, so I thought I might throw it out their to everyone that an update has been released! Here is a list of the new features; most definitely looks like it is worth upgrading! I will be! Still free, still multi platform, still open source, still recommended!!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

After getting used to, and eventually attached to Apple’s iTunes application, I was excited to give Safari a spin. And, since Apple has had prompts popping up on my screen lately, I thought now would be as good a time as any to try it out. Safari, for those of you unaware, is a web browser.

The damn thing wont even load it’s default start page in less than a whole minute, and other sites such as the popular MySpace and Facebook were considerably worse! That’s just sad. Apple software has often frustrated me in it’s usability, but I generally write that off as being a devout Windows user, and used to that interface. But web browsers all basically work the same. No excuses here Steve, this is just bad.

I recommend ignoring the prompts if you have Apple Updater installed on your system, and I certainly encourage you to avoid seeking it out on your own. I’ll keep an eye on it, and if it gets better, and becomes a viable alternative to Internet Explorer or Firefox, I’ll let you know.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

Have some avi., XviD, or DivX files lying around on your hard drive, that you wouldn’t mind watching on your television instead of your computer monitor? Think I may have found something for you; for free no less!

This is hands down the simplest converter I’ve ever used; something like 4 clicks and I was off to the races. My movie was converted, in a disc image file, and ready to burn to DVD. Conversion time will depend on your system specs, and options.
Have yet to throw an avi file at it that it hasn’t been able to convert. I highly recommend this, I’ll be getting a lot of use out of it.

Download Link

–Jeremy Hobbs

While checking my traffic logs the other day (yeah, I care enough about this blog to keep track of data), I happened to notice that nearly all of my readers are still using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Why?

Do you happen to enjoy spyware? Fan of adware? Have a ‘thing’ for viruses? Is leaving your system open to a wide range of attacks something you get a big kick out of? No? Then I’ll just assume that you were left unaware that there is a much better, much safer alternative to surf the internet with.

Firefox is, very simply, a better product. Firefox is faster. Firefox is safer. And Firefox is more customizable. It will do almost everything Internet Explorer will do, minus Microsoft specific stuff that they wont share (looking for Windows Updates, ect). It will do some thing IE cannot; like the Acid2 test. For you tool bar fans, there are tons of (useful) options in that arena, their extension library is huge, and it’s even skin-able, so you can make it match your unique style.

Negatives? It’ll crash now and then. Positive; it’ll restore exactly where you left off at. And don’t insult my intelligence by telling me you’ve never had IE crash on you before, I don’t allow fibbers on this site (wink, wink). On the whole, this is an incredibly stable product; one just recently made more stable by a new update. I use it everyday, and you should too!

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

(Firefox newsworthy article from a fellow blogger: http://www.nowg.net/2007/06/01/14-of-online-users-choose-firefox/)

firefox, internet, computers