MPEG Streamclip- batch video conversion
Another quick article about a really handy free application. I needed an easy way to convert a whole set of video files from .avi to a format that would sit happily inside iTunes.
We’ve been using MPEG StreamClip for a little while at work now, it’s a great tool for converting video. But the reason I’m adding a mention here is because of the batch processing. Opening up the list view allows you to drag and drop all of your clips on to it, choose an output format and location (along with handy presets for iTunes), and set it to run until they have all converted. I’m currently typing this while my Mac processes 4 clips all at the same time, running nicely in the background.
Really nice piece of software for anybody that works with video, and it is available on Windows and MacOS. You can get your copy here.
Image source- Video editing makes me cry (cc licensed on Flickr by Rakka)
That iTunes Update…
I updated to shiny new iTunes today. This isn’t a review of iTunes so apologies if that’s what you were expecting. I got as far as opening it up and it told me I needed to be running the latest version of Safari in order to access the iTunes Store.
Obviously I’m aware I’m on the special Mac Fanboy list so don’t want to dent that too much, and while I don’t understand (or haven’t Googled) the technicalities of this particular update it doesn’t feel quite right. For me Chrome is the browser that works best for that job, do I really need to also install their web browser to use their media player? I do think iTunes is definitely the best tool for that particular job, and in general have nothing but praise for Apple. But…
I read a really good article on the BBC website earlier about the history of Internet Explorer. Remember how it shipped with Windows and was pretty much impossible to get rid of?
iPhone apps for August
This month I’ve added the following apps to my iPhone.
Finally got around to having a play with Foursquare, just in time for Facebook to start doing pretty much the same thing. I like the Foursquare app, very simple to check in quickly, and I like that any tips people have left for a venue are easy to access. To be honest I don’t think I’ll keep using it, but that’s more about not having a large network of friends on there rather than any issue with the app itself.
A nice visual way to display the latest news content from the BBC. Great if you have a wireless connection, little bit slow over the 3G. I still prefer The Guardian app for my morning news, and the Google Reader interface on iPhone is pretty good too.
This is the free app that goes with our shiny new VOIP system at work. It logs in to my extension number so I can pick up messages/etc, and I can also make calls back through the setup. You enter the number you want to call and the school system calls the iPhone. They also do an app for Blackberry, going to try that out in September too.
This month I switched from running XBMC to Boxee on my little media centre PC. Boxee also has a nice little iPhone app to remote control it. Two versions, one with the standard set of buttons but the second is a more interesting gesture based interface. Works pretty well once you get used to how sensitive it is.
This is very cool. It’s GPS for iPhone, and it’s free! Uses the open streetmap project for all the map data and adds navigation on top of this. I’ve done a few local test drives with it and it seems to work really well. Picked up the destinations I entered with no problem, and once it has picked up the GPS signal the navigation worked really well. I don’t think I’m quite at the point where I’ll stop carrying around the TomTom unit yet, but I like this a lot.
And a little game to finish off the list for the month. Feels kind of similar to DoodleJump again, but another really catchy little iPhone game.
And that’s the list. With any luck we’ll have some iPads on test by next month so the list should include a few things for that too.
Image source- iPhone 4 bumper by Yutaka Tsutano. CC licensed on Flickr
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