Flip camcorder is pocket-perfect No-frills digital device fits modern straight-to-video lifestyle

One of my favorite things to do in high school was to carry around a bulky camcorder and record my friends and my antics. I would edit the videos and put them up on my Web site, since there was no YouTube in 2001.

Now, even though sharing online video has gotten easier, recording it hasn't. One of the promises of technology has always been that devices should become easier to use even as they become more advanced. Somewhere in the past few years, companies started diverting from that road and trying to one-up prior releases with new features that take away from the main functionality of the device.

Look at many of the camcorders on the market. How many people are actually using the built-in camera functionality on their camcorder instead of an actual camera? Even though the latest cameras on the market can shoot high-definition video and have more buttons than a nuclear warhead, I don't think the process is any easier than it was when I was sitting in English class.

That was until I was introduced to the Flip.

The Flip doesn't shoot high-definition video. The Flip doesn't take still photos. The Flip doesn't have a massive viewfinder. Instead, the Flip eliminates all of the complexity that is associated with recording digital video and makes it accessible to everyone.

Recording video with the Flip is a two-step process.

Step 1: Toggle the on switch. Step 2: Press the red record button.

When you're done recording, press the button again. Press the play button to review what you just shot and the trash can button to delete it if necessary.

That's all there is to the Flip, and that is what I absolutely love about it.

The Flip is the ultimate carry-in-your-pocket device and makes it easy to capture video of stuff you never would be able to with a traditional camcorder. Since the device is about the size of a classic iPod, it's comfortable to just keep in your purse or pocket.

There are no cables to keep track of. There is a USB plug that pops out of the side of the device. Plug it into your PC or Mac and you're ready to pull your video onto the computer. The Flip will appear on your desktop as an external disk that contains not only your videos, but all of the software you need to view and edit your clips.

I found the Flip's video editing tools rudimentary at best compared with Apple's iMovie, but they should suffice for Windows users. In most instances, I just pulled the video onto my Mac and uploaded it straight to YouTube or Flickr.

The Flip comes in a 30-minute and 60-minute version for $150 and $180, respectively. If you have kids, pets or just want a no frills way to produce online video, I can't recommend it enough.

Justin Williams is a local blogger and the owner of Second Gear, a local Web and software development firm. He can be reached at justin@secondgearllc.com.

Originally published in The Evansville Courier & Press

Vista is the future; time to just let XP go

Microsoft plans to discontinue sales of Windows XP on new computers on June 30, completing the company's transition to Windows Vista. The end of the XP era was originally planned for late 2007, but Microsoft gave its old operating system a stay of execution after listening to feedback from consumers and industry partners.

InfoWorld, a technology industry publication, is hosting a petition that allows consumers to pledge their support for Windows XP being sold beyond June. At press, more than 111,000 people have signed it.

Microsoft will continue providing tech support for XP through April 2009 and security updates through 2014. The significance of the June 30 deadline is that anyone purchasing a machine from Dell, HP or any other major manufacturer will be forced to adopt Windows Vista as the operating system.

I assure you, it won't hurt.

It's frustrating to read other technology columnists and magazines recommending that consumers keep installing XP on their new machines. XP was released in October 2001. As a point of reference, the original iPod was released in the same month.

The first generation iPod had 5 gigabytes of storage, a black-and-white video screen and was as thick as a pack of cigarettes. Today, it's much thinner and has 160GB of storage. Or, you can buy the more advanced iPhone.

The amount of innovation between Vista and XP is no less. Vista introduced improved search and browsing support in the Windows shell, improved stability and sidebar Gadgets. More important than the superficial updates, Vista is a more secure system than XP, which can help reduce malware and viruses.

Vista is the foundation for the future of Windows-based computing. Recommending to someone purchasing a new computer, one that he plans to use for the next three to five years, to install XP is irresponsible.

One of the main arguments against Vista is its speed compared with XP. Most PCs shipping today are built with a minimum of 1GB of memory and a graphics card capable of running all the bells and whistles offered by Vista. XP will run faster on these machines, but only because it was designed for machines running on 2001 hardware. Pentium 4, anyone?

Others argue that Vista isn't compatible with all printers and third-party accessories purchased in the past decade. Look at it as an opportunity to upgrade your antiquated hardware with the latest offerings.

If you're still using a peripheral that doesn't connect via USB, it's time to send it to the recycling center.

For those who remember, the jump from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 was just as substantial. We all survived then, and I promise we will get through Vista together.

Vista is not without its flaws, but it's not the worst operating system Microsoft has ever released (I'm looking at you, Windows Millennium).

If you are purchasing a new machine, stop fretting over Vista and start embracing it.

Justin Williams is a local blogger and the owner of Second Gear, a local Web and software development firm. He can be reached at justin@secondgearllc.com.

Originally published in The Evansville Courier & Press

FamSpam delivers simple Web community

While most of my relatives are online, I've been unable to get anyone outside of my immediate family to embrace blogging or use services such as Flickr and YouTube.

I have a few cousins who use Facebook to upload photos, but it seems anyone older than 25 doesn't understand why I have so much of my life online for all to see.

It sounds like the folks at Err Free software have a family similar to mine.

FamSpam.com is Err's new Web service that aims to ease the burden of keeping track of your family members no matter where they are located and without having to send mass e-mails. Each family that signs up is given its own repository for conversing with one another and uploading photos. When any member of the family posts to the Fam-Spam site, the rest of the family is notified and can share comments.

FamSpam's biggest feature is its ease of use and simplicity.

The sign-up process is one of the easiest I've seen. Just enter your surname, e-mail address and a password, and you're ready to go. There's no complex form, confirmation e-mails or credit card information required.

Once signed in, users can invite as many family members as they'd like, and they will be able to interact or upload photos via your Fam-Spam page.

For the less technically savvy, FamSpam can be manipulated entirely via e-mail. Members can start conversations, reply to existing conversations or upload photos through their e-mail client. The updates will funnel through to other family members and be archived on the family's FamSpam site.

The service is still light on features, though some of it is by design. By eliminating all excess features of other services and focusing on a simple, accessible core feature set, FamSpam has the potential to fill a niche quite nicely.

I'd like to see the ability to embed home videos from services such as YouTube and Vimeo as well as support for RSS feeds for the more geeky members of the family who prefer to subscribe to updates rather than receiving them in their e-mail inbox. Integrating with photo services such as Flickr also would make publishing photos already online even easier.

FamSpam offers plans ranging from free to $50 a month. The sweet spot seems to be the $12-a-month plan that allows 15 family members to converse and upload 2,600 photographs. I'm not sure if my family will keep using it beyond the 30-day trial, but it is an interesting idea and definitely eases the digital gap for families spread throughout the country.

Justin Williams is a local blogger and the owner of Second Gear, a local Web and software development firm. He can be reached at justin@secondgearllc.com.

Originally published in The Evansville Courier & Press

Browsers provide favored features, vexations

I have a hard time sticking with a Web browser for more than a few weeks. A new browser is released that grabs my interest, or I grow so frustrated with the usability or speed of a browser that I abandon it.

The problem is that no browser offers all the features I want and each one has its own set of annoyances.

A few weeks ago I used Flock, the social browser that integrates Facebook and Flickr. I still think Flock is wonderful, but its slow responsiveness and non-native feel in Mac OS X left much to be desired.

I tried jumping back to Safari, the browser Apple ships with Mac OS X and offers for free to Windows users. Safari is one of the fast browsers in terms of page loading speed. Web pages render beautifully in an instant. Its use of the address bar to show a page's loading progress is also ingenious and something I wish other browser manufacturers would adopt.

But Safari needs a restart at least once a day or it becomes a resource hog. It's also not as easily customized for power users as are Firefox and Flock. On Mac OS X Leopard, there's a nasty bug where all your cookies will be deleted and you will be forced to log back in to all of your saved Web sites.

On the Windows side, Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been the top browser for years because it's bundled with each version of Windows. I lost faith in Internet Explorer as a browser when Microsoft let IE6 sit dormant for more than half a decade with no innovation. Internet Explorer 7 is a usable browser, but I find its implementation of tabbed browsing to be more intrusive than Firefox or Safari. Its security "improvements" are more annoying than helpful.

I have high hopes for Internet Explorer 8, which the company recently announced. One of the major pitfalls of the browser in the past has been its lackluster support for standards. The goal of Web standards is to ensure that a page looks the same in all browsers on all platforms. Microsoft finally seems committed to standards in 2008, which is a benefit to all Web users and developers.

Lately, I've been giving most of my attention to the beta version of Firefox 3.0. Firefox is the open source browser that has been nipping at the heels of Internet Explorer's dominance. The original version of Firefox was groundbreaking, but the project seemed to falter with version 2.0. It felt slower and ate more system memory than any other browser.

I'm happy to report that Firefox 3.0 looks to have returned to its roots and improved the core browsing experience. The browser's interface feels snappy and has a unique icon set for Mac OS X and Windows, respectively.

Firefox 3 is planned for official release in June, but if you're a thrill seeker, the betas are more than usable.

Justin Williams can be reached at justin@secondgearllc.com.

Originally published in The Evansville Courier & Press