Although many people call the iPad a larger iPhone that can’t make calls. However, that large screen is great for consuming media. Not only for watching movies, TV shows and video podcasts, but also streaming content from the web. Many major media companies are making applications to view their content on the iPad. TWIT is a great example because they made a special app just for the iPad to view the live stream in either video or audio. The large screen iPad allows you to see more details and watch higher resolution video. It also is easy to travel with and take whereever you go and watch either downloaded content or if you can get online over 3G or WiFi you can stream content. This can make the iPad a perfect device to consume content whereever you are and you can enjoy your content anywhere  and very high quality. It adds just one more reason the iPad is a great device!

While the big record labels and movie studio take internet pirates to court for copyright infringement there is a another way to licence your work that let’s the viewers do more with it and still protect the owner’s rights. It is called the Creative Commons Licence which is also referee to as copyleft becuase it is very different from the standard copyright. Creative Commons let’s the creator of the content choose between several option to regulate what the end level consumer can do with the content.

Commercial:
Commercial: People can use this content for commercial use
Non-Commercial: it may not be used  commercially
Modification:
No: People can’t modify your work
Share-a-like: share credit with the creator

If you want to licence your content there is a for on creativecommons.org and then embedable code you can insert on your website to display your licence. Although the big old media companies are not going to be accepting to this new style of intellectual property management, a lot of web content like videos, podcasts, pictures and music are licenced in this way to help others on the web and share content. I use it now for my blog, The Weekly Spin, Screencast Weekly and my photos on Flickr so people can use my content in their work for free, they do have to give me credit. I think that with the growth of content on the web more people will use this licence method and will be benifical for the web as a whole becuase it will allow more free content to avaible on the web and will prevent long, drawn out  lawsuits over piracy.

Have you ever watched a video and and it looks stretched out or parts of the video are cut off. Part of the reason for that is the aspect ratio or the shape of the video. There are several aspect ratios, however, there are two standard aspect ratios:

4:3- Which looks like a square and is used mainly for standard definition video.

16:9- Also known as widescreen looks like a rectangle and is the standard aspect ratio for high definition video.

If you don’t know what those numbers mean, they are the dementions of the width of the screen by the height of the screen. So, for example 16:9 means 16 units wide by 9 units high; 4:3 is 4 units wide by 3 units high.

So, if you were watching a video on your computer that was shot in 4:3 and you enter widescreen mode, the video might not look right because there is no more video information which means it has to be stretched to fit making the picture look weird and usually a bit fuzzy. Similarly, If you are watching a video that which is shot and distributed in 16:9 on a 4:3 display, the picture on the left and right side might be cut off. However, while there is no real way to make 4:3 video look better on a 16:9 display, you can scale down the 16:9 video and make it fit within the 4:3 display. If you ever used a non-linear editing program you may notice that in the preview window there is a box on the playback k. That is called the TV safe box and is meant for the editor to see what will be cut off on a 4:3 display.

16:9 is becoming a new standard and very few displays are still made with a 4:3 aspect ratio. For those recording video, I reccommend using 16:9 if your camera supports it because it gives you a better quality image as well as more in the picture.

When Apple debuted the Apple TV in 2007, it was meant to allow the user to access their iTunes content in their home media center to get the best possible experience. Later, users were able to directly download content on their Apple TV but, it never was that popular of a product. If Apple wants to make the Apple TV a successful product, then they need to make major changes to the Apple TV and take some ideas from the other set top boxes like Roku and Boxee.

1. Applications
The app store on the iPhone, iPod touch and now the iPad allows users to browse and download applications they want to expand the feature set of the device. On the Apple TV there doesn’t have to be the over 50,000 apps there are available in the iPhone app store but, apps for extra media and accessing social networks like Facebook and Twitter would be great to have on the big screen TVS.

2. Games
Going with the applications the app store could also open up the Apple TV as a gaming console and would be able to get more great entertainment on their Apple TV. They could target both the casual games that make the iPhone a great gaming platform as well as more serious games appealing to all gamers. The one advantage Apple has in this market is that they have mastered digital downloads through the app store and could use downloads as a cheaper alternative to optical disks.

3. Streaming Web Content
Both the Roku and Boxee box have the ability to stream content from the Internet both live and prerecorded. On Roku you can watch shows from Revision3, TWIT and other content providers. You can also watch the TWIT Live Stream as Leo broadcasts live everyday. This would add another dimension to the Apple TV and make it have the capabilities to replace your cable or satellite subscription.

Apple has done a great job designing the Apple TV’s user interface by making it slick and easy to use. However, they now need to step it up another notch and make it a full entertainment device.

A few weeks back, we broadcasted a live basketball game  and it was my first time doing a live show so, I thought I should share my experience. Last Tuesday, we broadcasted another live game as well!   The first thing is that we were very lucky to have a good team planning and working on the day of the broadcast but, even with them the whole time is very stressful. The other thing is that there is so many moving parts, that technical issues are bound to happen but, we were lucky to have only a few minor technical problems. No matter how much planning goes into a live production, things are bound to go wrong and slight errors will be made. The only thing you can do is to prepare and practice. This is done by an all volunteer crew and i’m sure a professional crew who does this regularly will be able to run a much smoother production. However, the whole process of doing a live show is very stressful and there is no real way to cover mistakes if you are doing a true live show. Although it was stressful, it was also a lot of fun and I hope that we do more in the future.

Comcast, the major cable conglomerate is buying NBC-Universal which is a television network as well as film production company. This is a very scary purchase for $30 Billion because it give Comcast control of a large amount of content. Comcast has had a history of not being a very good content company and better at the distribution. The best example of this is when Comcast bought TechTV and merged it with it’s gaming channel, G4. While TechTV had high-quality content, G4 didn’t and Comcast made the TechTV shows more like the G4 programming and canceled many of the great shows TechTV had. The main reason that Comcast bought the channel was because they wanted the TechTV audience but they didn’t care about the shows or the people who made the shows.

One idea is for if the merger goes through, which is in the hands of the FCC, is that NBC would operate the same as they currently do, and take over the operation of all of Comcast Productions as well because they have proven themselves very successful at producing content. This is the best option because it would leave NBC to do what it is best at and Comcast would continue to  be the giant cable monopoly that they have been. However, if Comcast tries and interfer with the NBC content, then NBC can be in a lot of trouble! The other fear of this purchase is that Comcast would then have partial ownership of Hulu, the online video site which competes with their own Fancast. I hope the FCC put a lot of thought into the ramifications of this purchase before approving it because it could severely disrupt the television industry.

In a previous article, I mentioned how much I have liked listening to audio books, however, they are a bit on the expensive side usually around $15 per book. However, I have found a few websites that offer free audio books although many of them are public domain books meaning there are probably a lot of repeats, but they still are entertaining and if you are into classic works of literature, then this is a great list of resources to hear great books anywhere.

1. Librivox
2. Audio Books For Free
3. Free Classic Audio Books
4. Books Should Be Free
5. Learn Out Loud
6. Barnes and Noble Free Audiobooks (Also has paid audio books)
7. Project Gutenburg
8. Free By Chris Anderson (a book about free distributed as a free audio book)

I have heard about Audiobooks, from Leo Laporte and services like Audible but, never put any thought into listening to audiobooks but, I recently tried a free trial of Audible and have enjoyed every minute of listening to my audio book. When I got my book I started to read it while I walked to classes and it is just great. I actually tried to spend more time walking so I can hear more of my audio book. When I listened I felt like  I got all the information out of it because I could hear it. Now, that I listened to my first audio book, I plan to go back and listen to more books because I get the information more easily and really enjoy the experience. I also can carry several books on my iPod and carry them wherever I go. The only downside is that every book is not able to heard as an audio book somewhat restricting your choices but there are still thousands of books in a variety of genres to listen to and enjoy!

Podcasting is a great way to broadcast your voice over the internet and recording a podcasting is not to hard to do. However it does take some work and some money to buy a few things to get started. I thought it would be useful to give a list of items that you need to begin recording your own podcast.

1. Computer

This computer can be a Mac, a Windows computer or even a Linux machine. All it really needs is a microphone input, or a USB port. If it is just you, can just record directly into Audacity or Garageband to record your show. If you need to record multiple people you can do it either in person through a Mixer or over Skype. I will show you how to record over Skype.

2. Recording Software

Recording can be done using a mixer and other hardware solutions but they tend to be very expensive while software can be relatively cheap.  The one we used to use for the Weekly Spin was Call Graph, it currently only works on Windows and it only records in Mono but it is free and gets the job done. Currently, we use Wiretap Studio which is a Mac program and usually costs $69 but, I got it as a part of the MacHeist Bundle. It is a much more robust recorder with a wide ray of features and most importantly it records in stereo. I have also used, Ecamm’s Call Recorder which is less expensive at $15 but, it is not as powerful as Wiretap.

3. Microphone

For a Microphone, I recommend that you use USB because the audio is digital from the start, while if you use the standard 3.5 mm connector, it has to convert to digital in the computer which results in lower quality audio. I recommend the Logitech USB Microphone because it records very high quality and is only $20! Although many people prefer to have a headset, headphones and microphone in one.

4. Editing Software

I used to edit the show in Audacity, but, I realized that Garageband is more powerful for editing and since I already have a Mac I might as well use it. However, Audacity is still a good editing option.

That is all your really need to start recording and producing podcasts except for a web server and website to post the final product.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am going to put together a full Media center solution that will be 100% cable free and will let you access all your web content online on your big TV and be without cable. I will jsut get into it

TV:

LG – 47″ Class / 1080p / 240Hz / LCD-LED HDTV: $1,800

If you need to save some money then you could find a cheaper TV instead of this one. This is a very nice TV and I really like the 4 HDMI inputs!

Computer:

Base Mac Mini: $600

You could, if you want to save money you could buy a used or old Mac Mini or any other computer although, this solution is designed for a Mac. You could also use your old computer as a Media center like I do on my desk and save money here!

Software:

Firefox: FREE

VLC Media Player: FREE

Flash Player: FREE

Miro Podcatcher:FREE

iTunes: FREE

Game Console: (Optional)

Nintento Wii: $250

I mentioned in a previous post about why I love the Wii and it is a great machine to add some more entertainment to the media center! this is not necessary.

Accessories:

Display Adapter: Mini Display to VGA: $30

VGA to HDMI Cable: $10

Total: $2,690 (Plus applicable taxes and fees)

For less than $2,700 you can have a full media center with everything you need. The great part of this system is that you don’t need to subscribe to cable or aything and you can just buy the content you want and other free web content like video podcasts as you need it! This is much betteer than having to pay a small fortune monthly for extra content you don’t want or care about. As I said you could modify this to make it more expensive or less to meet your needs but, this a good all around system that you can use. In fact, I left a sound system out of my solution but, if you want to you can add this. I hope to use a similar plan in my future home!