Meet the App that turns you and your friends into Steven Spielberg

Shooting an iPhone video with your fiends just got a lot more interesting. Meet Vyclone, a social video creation, collaboration, and sharing app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Available Thursday, the app lets two or more users create a collaborative video with others who are also shooting an iPhone video in physical proximity to them even if you’re not friends with or even aware the other people are shooting a video.

The result is an almost instant multi-angle video of an event that you’ll swear was created by a professional video editor.

“Working as a musician for years, I noticed that people were always taking video of their favorite
moments of each concert, but there was no way for them to share their different viewpoints with
each other,” said co-founder and chief creative officer Joe Sumner. “We created Vyclone to
solve that problem and the result is something that goes far beyond concerts to finding a new
medium for expression.”

To do its magic, Vyclone uses the GPS in your iPhone to determine your location. If you’re recording a video with the app at the same time and place as another person, then the app will automatically edit together your two videos into one ultimate video mix. Bring four people together in the same spot and Vycone will combine all four video streams into a single synchronized mix.

Filters such as sepia and black & white can be added to videos while you’re shooting them to give them a unique look.

Once you’re done recording -– videos are currently limited to one minute in length — you’ll have the option to make the finished product available for just your crew (people you’re linked to on Vyclone), the Crowd (people who were around you when the video was recorded), or Everyone.

Finished videos can be shared in one tap on Facebook and Twitter as well as saved to the camera roll on your iPhone or iPod touch.

You can upload your video clip with tags or a comment. Uploads can be done right after you’re done shooting over your phone’s data connection, but can also be saved within Vyclone to upload later when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot or have a more reliable data connection.

Once uploaded Vyclone will find people who were near you at the time of shooting and automatically edit together your videos into one multi-shot completed video. If you don’t like the automatic edit, you can also manually adjust it with Vyclone’s built-in video editor.

Much like you can with other video and photo sharing apps, Vyclone also has a gallery of videos created by others on the app you can browse through, allowing you to see at a glance what videos are popular at the moment, as well as what videos Vyclone has decided to feature.

All public videos can be re-edited by alone. So, if you see a video and think you could do a better job, you have the option to do so.

If you’re at a concert or event, a nearby feature on the app will let you see what other Vyclone movies have been created near the space you’re in. The feature could also come in handy if you’re traveling somewhere new and want to get a sense of what’s going on around you.

Vyclone is currently available for iOS only, and is available now for free from the App Store.

You can check out some of the amazing videos people have already created by visiting Vyclone’s website.

What do you think of Vyclone? When could you see shooting a multi-camera video useful? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

iPhone 5 is almost Alive!

If you’re on the market for a new phone — don’t buy the iPhone 4S just yet. The sixth-generation iPhone is on its way, according to Japanese tech blog Macotakara, a popular resource for pre-production news.

The resource successfully predicted the iPhone 4S release in 2011. The August reports stated the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 would publicly launch in October that year. The iPhone 4S did, in fact, launch in mid-October. The new iPad, however, launched a few months later in March 2012.

After personally using the Samsung s3 for a couple weeks before returning to the fruit, I would have to say it better impress because Samsung is far ahead at the moment!

Read more here.

Ever wanted to be a rock star?

With these babies you could see what a concert looks like from the bands point of view, while watching them from the crowd! Love it. C’mon Apple – whatcha got?

Google Glass

Google co-founder Sergey Brin dropped jaws at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco Wednesday morning with an enthralling demonstration of Google Glass, the company’s ultra-intriguing wearable computer project.

In case you missed it, here’s what happened: a team of skydivers logged into to a Google+ Hangout and jumped from a plane then sailed down to the roof of the Moscone Center where Google I/O is being held. Via streaming video, viewers watched the descent from the jumpers’ point of view in real time. As stunt bikers pedaled across the roof then rappelled down the side of the building and entered the conference hall, we saw all that from their eyes too.

It all raised a fascinating question: What about “real” sports? You know, football, basketball, baseball and the like. How could lightweight, POV cameras worn by players transform sports broadcasts? And how could products like Google Glass worn by fans at events revolutionize the spectating experience?

Changing the Game

Instead of watching a television broadcast of a game, imagine watching it via streaming video and picking your vantage point from traditional wide angle shots to feed delivered via camera glasses worn by different players. This isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. TNT impressed NBA Playoff viewers with Overtime, a multi-angle streaming service, and Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics tried to play a game in sunglasses earlier this year. Baseball players wear shades all the time, so eyewear isn’t necessarily considered too cumbersome.

Google Glass’s still somewhat mysterious augmented reality features would really kick in when the devices are placed on fans’ heads — although there’s also the ethical conundrum of athletes being able to leverage information delivered by AR.

Eric Smallwood of the sports marketing agency Front Row described to us a scenario of fans sitting in the stands at a Major League Baseball stadium wearing glasses that project constantly updating pitch-by-pitch stats without forcing users to look away from the field of play. Augmented reality could also direct fans to nearby vending services.

“This would be a really unique opportunity,” Smallwood said, cautioning that it’s nowhere near practical today.

Paypal Squaring Up! The smackdown begins…

Further to our recent story on SquaredUp’s awesome mobile banking device comes PayPal’s reply:

In 2009, Square revolutionized ecommerce with their mobile credit card reader, and is now processing $6 billion a year in payments from more than two million Square users.

But now Square has competition from PayPal — it boasts 110 million users worldwide and more than $118 billion in transactions last year — which is preparing to introduce the PayPal Here mobile payment service.

We compared the two services to help you decide which one is right for you and your business.

The Apps

 


The Square app comes in two flavors. There’s the mobile app and then there’s iPad-exclusive, Square Register (There’s also a basic iPad app, but Register has many of the same features and more). The smartphone app is fairly bare bones, letting you enter a description, a photo and a total price. Unfortunately, itemized receipts are not available, so you’ll have to list multiple items as one description and charge a lump sum.

 

For a more complete storefront experience, Square Register lets you create a catalog of items with different prices, descriptions, photos or icons. Items are shown in alphabetical order or your most popular products can go on the Favorites tab for easy access. And, yes, this one spits out an itemized receipt to email, text, or certain models of receipt printers.

The PayPal Here app is the best of both worlds. It runs on a smartphone, but also lets you create a catalog of products, complete with description and photo. The items can be arranged for ease of use on the iPhone, but for now the Android version only shows items in the order they were added.

Currently, PayPal Here is optimized for smartphones only. Though it works fine on the iPad, it’s not full-screen. According to Anuj Nayar, senior director of global communications at PayPal, the company has “near-term plans” for a dedicated iPad and Android tablet app.

Payment Types

 


Square accepts credit and debit cards, but can also manage cash transactions. If your customer has the Pay with Square app loaded on their mobile device, they can send payment from within the Square network. No matter how they pay, you can send an electronic receipt, plus Square adds the transaction to an integrated sales history feature so you can track inventory and spot consumer trends.

 

Turnaround for payment is fast, with transactions processed before 5:00 p.m. available in your bank account the next day.

Like Square, PayPal handles cards, cash, or customers with the PayPal app installed on their mobile device. Unlike Square, though, the app can snap a picture of a personal check and submit it to PayPal, too. Every transaction gets added to an in-app sales history, and you can send a receipt via text, email, or a hard copy from a network printer.

For most transactions, the money is available in your PayPal account within minutes. Coupled with a free PayPal Debit Mastercard or the PayPal app, you can use the money almost immediately (plus earn 1% back with the Mastercard). Or if you prefer to use your own bank account, a card transaction is deposited in two to three days, but checks have to clear first, which delays the deposit up to six days.

The Fees

Both services offer a free card reader by mail, but only Square’s reader is available in more than 7,000 nationwide retail locations, including many Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart stores. You pay $10 if you buy it in a store, but once you activate it you’ll get a $10 credit to your account.

For each swipe of a card, Square takes 2.75% of the transaction total, with no monthly fee, which is a lot better than most traditional merchant accounts. If you don’t have your reader, you can type in the card number, but the rate goes up to 3.5%, plus a .30 cent transaction fee. There’s no fee for tracking cash transactions.

PayPal charges a slightly lower 2.7% transaction fee, with no monthly fee. You can key in the card number, but your mobile device’s camera will also scan the front of card to input the numbers and expiration date, eliminating typing time and fat finger errors. The fee for non-swipes goes up to 3.5%, with a .15 cent fee tacked on. Like Square, tracking cash transactions is free.

Getting Started

To setup a Square account, just head over to Squareup.com with your bank account information and you’ll be ready to go in minutes. However, the service is currently only available in the United States. They are looking to expand internationally in the future, but these partnerships are not in place just yet.

Signing up for PayPal Here is as easy as going to PayPal.com and logging in with your existing account. Unfortunately, the demand has been so high for the service since it was announced in March, that they’re working through a backlog of more than 300,000 eager early adopters. PayPal’s, Nayar says they are continuing to ramp up distribution of the card readers, which should allow them to have the wait list knocked out in the next few weeks. After that, new requests will be addressed more quickly. The good news for international customers, is that PayPal Here is available in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, and Australia, with Japan coming soon thanks to a partnership with the country’s largest telecommunications company, Softbank.

What do you think? Can PayPal’s household name recognition knock out Square? Or is Square already too far out in front to lose? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

areyou@facebook.com?

Whether you’ve noticed or not, you have a new primary email address listed as your Facebook contact and most likely, it’s an address you’ve never used.

The social-networking site has quietly replaced your default email addresses such as Gmail and Yahoo! with your @Facebook.com address, an email service option the company launched a few years ago and synced with Timelinein April.

“As we announced back in April, we’ve been updating addresses on Facebook to make them consistent across our site,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. “In addition to everyone receiving an address, we’re also rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their Timelines.”

First spotted on Saturday by blogger Gervase Markham, the email address you once listed as your point of contact is now hidden in the site’s database and your assigned @Facebook.com address is highlighted for friends to see.

If you ever changed your Facebook vanity URL, that serves as the prefix of your Facebook email address (i.e. Facebook.com/John.Smith would be John.Smith@Facebook.com). For those that never added a vanity URL, Facebook has assigned numbers to serve as your email account name.

 

SEE ALSO: Facebook’s Facial-Recognition Acquisition Raises Privacy Concerns
 

When users send an email to your Facebook.com address, it pops up in your Facebook inbox. However, some users have experienced issues with receiving messages through Facebook, since some of them end up in an“Other Messages” folder that few people know about.

Although members have been slow to embrace their Facebook email address, the move may be a part of an effort to remind and encourage users to use it more.

If you want to switch your email contact information back to what it was, it’s easy to do. Visit your Timeline or profile page and select “About” under your contact information. You can then hide your Facebook email address from the contact page and elect to highlight another email address.

“Ever since the launch of timeline, people have had the ability to control what posts they want to show or hide on their own timelines, and today we’re extending that to other information they post, starting with the Facebook address,” the Facebook spokesperson added.

What do you think of your Facebook email address? Will you use it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

It’s time to get SquaredUp

Finally its arrived! It has been promised for a long time now and the whisper mills online have been doing their best to keep interests piqued but finally SquaredUp is here – and in my opinion will give PayPal and the banks a good run for their money.

Turn your phone or iPad into an EFTPOS terminal that can be carried in your pocket. The iPad application is very impressive and creates a POS terminal for nothing – a smooth interface and a lovely, quick, convenient way to accept credit cards in your business. All for the bargain price of 2.75% – NO OTHER FEES!!!!

The question begs, how fast will it expand internationally? Currently only available in the USA…c’mon SquaredUp – we want one too!

Check it out now! https://squareup.com/

 

Bye bye Google Places, Hello Google+

Google launched a new product last week — “Google+ Local” — that integrates Google Places with the Google+ social media site.

With the change, Google has abandoned Google Places, forcing all of its business listings into Google+.

Here’s what it means:

1. Google has integrated Zagat ratings into business listings. If your restaurant or hotel already has a Zagat rating, it will be displayed with your listing. In addition, any Google reviews of your businesses will be compiled in the Zagat 0-to-30 rating system.

2. With one listing, your business will be searchable on Google search, maps, mobile and Google+.

3. If Google+ users review or rate a business, those reviews will be shown to other Google+ users who have the reviewers in their circles.

Screenshot of new Google+ Local business listing

4. The new Google+ Local listing will look like a Google+ Pages listing, and eventually will be completely integrated with Google+. For the time being, businesses can continue to manage their Google business listings with their Google Places for Business log-in.

And here’s what we recommend:

1. If you run a local business and you haven’t claimed your business listing on Google, do it now. You can start by clicking the link above for Google Places for Business.

2. If you’ve already got a Google Places listing, take some time to clean it up. Make the information is accurate and complete and add some photos. Google will also ask you whether you want to move old content to the new Google+ Local listing.

3. Once you’ve claimed your listing, create a Google+ account and then create a Google+ Page for your business. You need to create the personal account first.

4. Stand by for further information from Google about how to integrate the Google+ Local listing with your Google+ Page.

All of these steps are going to help your business be noticed in Google searches, and that’s the bottom line (unless you don’t care whether customers can find you on the world’s most popular search engine).

Trailer Trash to grace Woodford Folk Festival

Innovative Art movement ‘Trailer Trash’ has been selected to occupy a significant site at this year’s Woodford Folk Festival (http://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com/home/). With Festival Director Bill Hauritz and Programmer Chloe Goodyear loving the concept, TopCatt Director, Trevor Topfer and creative partner Josh Levi will bring their unique Art Exhibition ‘Trailer Trash’ for festival patrons to enjoy, interact with and even take home some of the best new art from around the country.

“We’ve got some of the most exciting artists from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and throughout Australia coming to exhibit their work and paint live for festival goers.” says Trevor. “They’ll be programmed alongside some of the finest bands and performers on the festival bill this year to create an exciting blend. We hope to astonish, impress and possibly damage-beyond-repair some of the minds that attend; with lots of weird and wonderful surprises in store.”

Incorporating 6 mobile art galleries (modified caravans), projection mapping, live art, music and much more, Trailer Trash is a must visit for festival goers this year. Visit www.trailertrash.net.au for more information or to see footage from their previous events. Now that’s different.

How would you spend $10,000.00?

How would you spend $10000?

KATHERINE FEENEY

April 8, 2010

Josh Collings and Trevor Topfer have a party plan they’d like to share.

You’d throw a party of course. And that’s exactly what two lucky local lads are doing this April, burning the dough from a big-name vodka company for the sake of a high-profile bash, the likes of which Brisbane has never seen before.

It’s called Trailer Trash and it’s a party concept cooked up by Trevor Topfer and Josh Collings that they entered into the inaugural Smirnoff Promoter Grants Scheme last year in a bid to win the big bucks on offer for budding Australian promoters.

And now, after snapping up the blue ribbon with their hair-brained scheme, the pair are set to deliver the goods and are preparing to launch their party concept on the streets of Brisbane.

Self-touted as the “ultimate night life experience” Trailer Trash is a fusion of contemporary art and hot music muscle in an environment that’s part gypsy, party pikey, and wholly unique.

Essentially, Collings and Topfer have secured Sampology and DJ Hutch for the night along with the final live gig from Melbourne duo Jackson Jackson in 2010 and they’ve commandeered a fleet of caravans with which to do a live art installation.

Capping things off, this art and music mash up will take place in a secret central Brisbane location to be revealed at the time of ticket purchase.

Jackson Jackson to play Trailer Trash

Jackson Jackson play TopCatt Event

April 7, 2010

Jackson Jackson

TUESDAY, 30 MARCH 2010

Blues/hip hop/rock/pop messmeisters Jackson Jackson will be playing their final gig for 2010 at the Trailer Trash event with DJ Hutch and Sampology. The event will combine live music with art installation involving caravans and takes place at a secret location revealed only to ticket holders on Saturday Apr 24.

Source: http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/19956/31

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