I did a little research on camera stabilizers because I found any moving footage was every choppy. I’ve known about Steadicam for years, they were used in both the MTV and Pantene commercials I worked on. I needed a Steadicam for my iPhone!

I had no idea if such a thing existed but lo and behold it did! Sort of. Most stabilizer manufacturers make a prosumer device for small, light weight consumer cameras, perfect for an iPhone. I checked out reviews, specs and videos for stabilizers from Steadicam, Hague, Lensse and some great DIY stabilizer videos. Seeing as how I don’t have a machine shop, the last option was out. The Lensse was reasonably priced but most reviews said it was difficult to balance. The Steadicam Smoothie looked good, but again, was reviewed as being difficult to balance. I also read up on the iStabilizer but with its name, it’s cheaper price, and it’s lack of reviews made me nervous. I looked at the Manfrotto 585 ModoSteady Stabilizer but a single review that compared it to the Hague stabilizer, with words and video changed my mind. I settled on the Hague Mini Motion-Cam Stabilizer. It’s a mouthful, and you can only get it from their site, so there are no Amazon reviews, but I saw a bunch of videos on YouTube for it and it seemed to fit the bill. It arrived today. Now, I should be clear that a stabilizer is not an easy tool to use, but it’s essential to smooth movement and motion shots. I remember a Steadicam operator telling me he had to be certified, I believe it. A camera stabilizer ads an immense about of professional polish to your video project, but it takes patience and practice.

Here are the undoing photos, I’ll be adding video to this post in a day or so.

The only complaint that I have is that the Hague site wasn’t clear about the fact that the stabilizer came with an iPhone adaptor so I ordered one. Now I’ve got a $25 adaptor that I don’t need. Let’s see how good their customer service is. Unless someone wants a heavy duty, weighed and stable iPhone tripod adaptor (@stevegarfield…)

SlowMo

SlowMo is pretty basic; shoot or load video, slow it down, purview and export the final footage.

Splice

Cool opening page and easy interface for an app that handles editing, cropping, slow motion.

As you can see, it’s simple enough to crop, slow, and compile clips for a final edit, which takes a bit longer than iMovie but not as long as ReelDirector. But, before I waste time talking about it’s editing capabilities, this is why it doesn’t matter:

640×480 is the highest resolution this app offers for final output. If you have the time to sit through the video below, you’ll see that, when compared to 1080p output from other apps, this one does not fit into my workflow. The Splice clip is at the very end.

I finally got a chance to do some lighting tests using my SIMA (SL-10HD) LED light. It connects via cold shoe to my AR-4i, OWLE, or my iPhone via its connector arm and iPhone tripod adaptor.
The SIMA uses 2 AA batteries, has no DC input. It comes with an arm that allows you to attach it to a tripod, or tripod adaptor-equipped iPhone. It provides 600 lumens for 45-60 minutes.

Here are some test photos and a test video.

I ended up buying. It works pretty well, I got a whe scene written today. I also had some time today to record a new video showing off a couple of new iPhone accessories. I’m still in the market for a good extra battery solution and some way to attach external hard drive space.

Here is audio test footage.

Many of you who read my blog or have seen my portfolio know that I’ve done a bit of video work for my clients. There has been some video shooting, mostly editing and motion graphics. These projects were of course marketing projects with (usually less than adequate) budgets.

I got into doing video, and design itself, because I wanted to make movies. Unfortunately I lived in the wrong coast and was too practical, so web design became my career choice. I’ve always had stories in my head that I wanted to get out through movies, but didn’t have the money or the equipment.

A few months ago I picked up a side project doing a video for a major marketing event. The video was shot in and around Times Square. I used a big Canon HDV video camera for shooting, After Effects for animation, and Final Cut for editing. While shooting with the big pro camera I also shot with iPhone. In the end 50% of the final video was from the iPhone 3Gs. That device had a 3.2 megapixel camera and shot 640×480 VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second.

3 months ago the iPhone 4s was released with an 8 megapixel resolution camera that’s shoots 1080p HD footage.

It’s time to shoot a movie!

While I’m writing, testing, planning, I’ll use my 3Gs to record every step of the way. I’ll leave videos and photos here or you can see the videos on my YouTube channel and pictures in my Tumblr blog.

My wife wants to write a blog but is struggling with developing the discipline to do it. Everyone will tell you that consistency in publishing is the most important part of a blog strategy, whether it’s once a day or once a week. People crave consistency, ask McDonald’s.

The idea of generating content can be overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be if you follow these simple steps:

1) Write what you know. Mark Twain knew what he was talking about. He only wrote about what he was an expert in; politics, childhood, and riverboats. Let’s face it, if you’re blogging about a topic that you’re not an expert in, whether it’s marketing, flower arranging, extreme couponing, woodworking or struggling to launch a business, then you shouldn’t be blogging, because no one will care. There are 2 caveats to that last statement: you’re funny or a hot chic. Both bring in traffic but both are things that many consider themselves to be regardless of the mendacity of the concept!
If you’re an expert, you will create content of great value, and you won’t have to do too much fact checking!

2) Summarize your thoughts. You’ve been awake for 12-16 hours. You’ve had approximately 230,000 thoughts today. Take 15 minutes to jot down 1-6 things that occurred to you today that would make interesting and relevant topics. You can do this anytime but I recommend doing it right before you go to sleep. Why? The last things on our minds before we sleep are the ones our subconscious chews on all night. This means your inner secretary is working through the night to form thought and opinions, even clear up in-discrepancies. True multi-tasking!

3) Get up and get on it! Plenty of research points to the fact that our minds are most creative and productive first thing in the morning. When you wake up, look at your list. Pick one or to topics you want to cover and start writing. This can happen over coffee, using voice-to-text apps while driving to work or in the shower, waiting to buy a donut, on the train, etc. there is no standard length for a blog post, make it as long or short as you need to make your point. Whether you’re clear and concise, tend to ramble, like lots of pictures, this doesn’t need to take more than 15 minutes.

4) Build an archive. You don’t need to publish every day. You may have multiple epiphanies in a day or have a month-long dry spell. However, if you write every day, you’ll generate a backlog of good stuff to hold you over when you’re stumped or too busy. You can always store them on your blog unpublished or…

5) Stick to a schedule. Blog platforms allow you to schedule the publishing date of a post. I was out sick on Tuesday but already had a blog post scheduled for publication that day from 2 weeks before. My company has a backlog of blog posts to last until next week, which gives me a week and a half to generate another one.

Now, these rules aren’t hard and fast but give you a framework. Perhaps you come up with your topic list in the shower then right on your lunch break or before bed. Maybe you just keep a running list like I do (which, to be honest, I only go back to in emergencies). Numbers 2, 3, and 4 can be modified to fit your lifestyle but give you a good idea how to manage blog writing easily. Numbers 1 and 5 are absolute must-haves for any blogger looking to generate readers.

For those with more time to write, add a relevant photo, quote another blog or source if relevant. Do some research to dig out official numbers, spend some time on dictionary.com looking up alternate words. I did both in the 30 minutes I took to write this, while stopping to talk to my wife about her business plans, dinner, tonight’s TV viewing and getting her input on the post.

2 last things:

I don’t have to tools to write: I call BS! If you don’t have the tools you wouldn’t be able to read this. I’m typing away on my smart phone. Even feature phones can use email to publish to your blog as can any computer with Internet access. Don’t have a blog? WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger are free!

I don’t know how to write. No problem, read a book, a blog, a magazine or a news story. If you can read and speak you can write. If you have trouble forming your thoughts into words, use the resources I just mentioned or just talk it through out loud.

For any bloggers reading this, please share your tips and tricks.

For non-bloggers, feel free to ask questions!

In a recent article from FastCompany (http://bit.ly/nnYNwX), author Greg Lindsay talks about innovators losing their ability to innovate as they outsource manufacturing. Almost every technology leader out there send their manufacturing responsibilities overseas. This has had a negative impact on everyone from GM to Apple. These mammoth companies lack the ability to create what they design. Perhaps this is the real reason behind Google’s acquisition of Motorola; to gain control of the entire ecosystem. As Steve Jobs begins to cement his legacy by building the enormous and eco-friendly spaceship headquarters, he made an interesting statement to the Cupertino zoning commission:

“We’ve used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building… It’s pretty cool.”

This is a rarity in America, where this kind of innovation is beginning to disappear. Unfortunately, Apple may now how to make the biggest piece of glass in the world, but can they make it? If Steve Jobs really wants to create a legacy that will see him mentioned in the same breath as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, he needs to rethink Apple’s manufacturing policy. The company has purchased a massive piece of land and is building an enormous building on it, but it will only take up 25% of the space. This building will house some of Apple’s staff, but some will remain in Apple’s original office down the street. What Apple needs to do is take real control of their device ecosystem and bring manufacturing home to the US. Fill that new office space or the old one with the most innovative iPlant the world has seen. Supremely efficient, incredibly safe, amazingly advanced and… there’s one more thing: the largest american-employing manufacturing plant to be created since the early 70s.

Bringing the manufacture of Apple’s products to Cupertino will do more than allow the iPhone 5 I’m destined to stand in line for to have a single line of white text (rather than 2): Designed and Made by Apple in California:

Ultimate control over the entire life of Apple products. This has been a goal since the earliest days of the company (http://bit.ly/1b76kn). Apple has already seen companies like Foxconn pushing knockoffs of the iPhone and iPad. The more hands you have on your CAD drawings, the more likely you’ll find one looking to make a side profit.

New areas of innovation. Imagine what Apple will invent or reinvent to build a Apple-quality manufacturing plant. Imagine being able to sell this technology to other US and global manufacturers, the US government, etc.

An excuse to really leverage alternate energy. Currently Apple’s new office will be powered by internal natural gas generators. Imagine the power requirements of a factory. Solar, wind, thermal, etc. will all need to come into play.

New customer base. The new type of manufacturing plant will no doubt pique the interest of other companies who had been outsourcing. In order to compete more patriotically, but still keep costs efficient, they’ll need new ways to manufacture locally. Much like LucasArts took on other film effects jobs between Star Wars movies, Apple could begin manufacturing for Ford, GE, Boeing, IBM.

Giving back. Apple wouldn’t be giving the country a fish, it would be teaching it to fish all over again. This move could kickstart a rebirth in US manufacturing, reinvigorating the US economy, bringing blue-collar jobs back to the middle class. More people with more money means they could buy more Apple products right?

Good will. America needs a hero. Jobs are outsourced, social services are being slashed, salaries are shrinking while workloads increase, there are 5 applicants for every 2 jobs. Politicians have been selling out the American dream since the mid-70s. We need someone who will give us back our pride in American ingenuity and the opportunity to earn a fair wage for a fare days work.

Halo industries would blossom. Their is already an enormous ecosystem of manufacturers, wholesalers, technologists, etc. around Apple products. Now imagine the impact an Apple manufacturing plant would have on machine parts manufacturers, robot designers, and the myriad of businesses that support factories. Now imagine that the only companies chosen to support Apple’s US manufacturing initiative were US companies.

Steve Jobs, if you really want to Think Different an establish a legacy that will be taught on iPad Xs in grade schools across the country, it’s time to start getting the iAssemblyLine rolling once again: http://bit.ly/nWiFSb.

Image courtesy joshcUK.