Found an excellent app today for the iphone.
AudioBoo - allows you to make an instant podcast (mp3) and publish it online. Even gives you auto RSS/iTunes feeds.
Yet to try it out in the classroom. My daught did the first one. My podcast URL here: http://audioboo.fm/users/30973/boos.atom
Free. Awesome. 3 minute timelimit on casts.
Brand new iPod Nano - 5G
Today I got myself an iPod Nano 5th Generation.
I had an ipod classic 5G (the U2 model) a few years ago, and I loved it while it worked – but gravitated towards alternative solutions in the portable mp3/mp4 player space.
I have of late been encouraging myself to give Mac a go. I am a dyed in the wool user of MS/PC based products, but think this narrow mindedness may need to change.
What really got me going with this device, is the new inclusion of a video camera. Now while I don’t have one, the Flip has always been something I can see has filled a real void in this market. Cheap, reliable and simple technology to use to record both voice and video.
Its pretty hard to beat for $188 bucks.
This importance of ‘good-enough‘ I think is an important one. Especially in the classroom.
Now for under $200, a student can have a voice recorder and a video camera. Instant pod/vod-casting at the tips of your fingers.
Small, damn small
Lets look further at this device. Its tiny. Really simple to use. To kick the video camera over, you just need to select that option from the menu. Simply point and click. The main pain I can see with it, to hold it without your fingers going over the lens you need to either hold the razor thick edges, or whack your thumb over part of the screen.
The tech specs state that it will absorbs your surroundings at 640×480 at 30 frames per second. This higher than average frames per second (average being 25 fps) means that its a very smooth video experience.
Using the nano for video inside is a downside. If the room is well-lit I couldn’t imagine it being a problem, but I haven’t had a chance to examine/test this further in a classroom environment, or even in the shadows of a building with bright sunlight nearby. I noticed some shadowing when just filming inside near my laptop’s screen.
Your eye on the world
The lens is small, I guess it doesn’t need to be any bigger, and right next to it is the microphone. This microphone is quite sensitive, but also quite directional. It picks up audio quite nicely from the talent, but if you are speaking while filming it deadens your voice a little.
I haven’t tested it fully for length of time in recording, but from my estimates I think I could get at least 1 hour of record time, which is more than enough for the most avid learner creating content.
The files are easy to access from windows explorer. I was quite surprised that these didn’t show up as video files from within iTunes (even version 9), but you need to enable disk access mode and then browse to it as if it were a flash drive.
Downloading Video from the Nano
It also saves them as MP4, which isn’t a problem in itself, but you can see the user beginning to be locked into Apple’s world. These can be readily converted using a freeware media conversion utility such as Super©
I’ve included below finally a short clip of the video it creates. This is taken in a shopping centre, middle of the day. I think the light levels would be brighter than the average classroom.
Enjoy!
See some more reviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohOysT0SCTs
http://www.multimedia-pcs.com/video-comparison-ipod-nano-vs-flip-video-sd/
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