» Posts Tagged ‘mobile’
Lifehacker is currently running a great series called “Lifehacker Packs,” wherein they round up all their favorite applications for the iOS, Android, and Mac platforms (no Windows love yet). Many of these applications are free, and each post is a great resource for anyone looking to add some creative/productive/fun tools to their computerized lives. The compilations are aimed at anyone, not just filmmakers (the full links are at the bottom of this post), but I’ve grabbed a number of relevant apps (and Lifehacker blurbs) for independent creatives: More »
One of the many items on my “to write” list is a “helpful applications for filmmakers” article. I was thinking if I spent some time on the Moon I could write all of these articles, but short of that (anyone who’s seen the Duncan Jones/Sam Rockwell film will know what I mean), there are just too many potential articles to crank out while also trying to make movies! Thankfully FilmmakerIQ and Filmmaker Magazine have both posted application roundups, which, as you can guess from the “filmmaker” in each publication’s name, focus on applications for filmmakers. Highlights from both articles include: More »
As transmedia pioneer Lance Weiler recently wrote in the pages of Filmmaker, mobile devices “offer opportunities for filmmakers to reach audiences directly, with little to no intervention from middlemen. While the selling of a film on iTunes requires a filmmaker to go through one or maybe two aggregators, it is possible to go direct to the App Store as long as the mobile app receives approval from Apple.” But while Apple’s iOS requires approval, Google’s Android does not. Not only is Google’s app marketplace more open than Apple’s ecosystem, but Android has rapidly rising market share, and now Google is releasing App Inventor for Android, a new tool for creating applications with drag-and-drop simplicity — no coding (or approval) required. More »
Is your film playing at a film festival? Are you selling DVDs or T-shirts? What if you’re a photographer selling prints out of your home? Maybe you’re a street artist doing sketches of tourists, or an artist selling paintings or sculptures at a street fair. Hell, you could be mowing lawns for money. Now imagine you had a miniature cash register that takes credit cards, accept signatures, and send receipts automatically, all using the mobile device you’re already carrying in your pocket. For filmmakers and other independent creatives, Square is a big deal. More »
File this under “too good to be true, therefore it probably won’t last.” PdaNet is an application that allows you to use your phone’s data connection on your laptop. It connects iPhone, Palm, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile phones to Macs or PCs (in my case, it’s an Android phone connected to a Mac). This means you essentially have internet everywhere; if you’re on a decent 3G connection it’s surprisingly fast. I ran a speed test and got 2.5 megabits/second (Time Warner cable internet in NYC typically peaks out at 5 megabits). Considering many carriers are soon going to charge you for tethering, the $30 one-time fee for PdaNet is more than worth it if you find yourself working on the road a lot (or in coffee shops and airports, where free Wi-Fi is still rare). While the connection is sometimes finicky, PdaNet has more than paid for itself; I’m writing this from an internet-free house in Queens, yet I’ve been able to FTP large video files to clients.
Link: PdaNet
When moviegoers started going to theaters less frequently in favor of watching a videotape or DVD on a home screen, the movie-watching experience became less social. But once you connect that home screen to the internet, suddenly that device can help you become more social. I’m interested in the ways connected devices help us meet and interact with strangers; specifically I think the mobile dating arena is primed to take off, as it combines the convenience of meeting someone in a bar (meaning, it’s local) with the filtration abilities of the internet (clicking a mouse or touching a screen is a much easier, and often more civil, way to get rid of would-be suitors). In light of all this, I found this video about the barebones site Chat Roulette interesting:
If I were to bootstrap a non-film-related startup, I think it would be in the “mobile meeting” space, but I don’t have the infrastructure to support that kind of thing. Regardless, while this technology might be depressingly primitive today — and depressingly populated by what Casey terms “perverts” — where it’s headed tomorrow is the (multi)million-dollar question.
[via NewTeeVee]
UPDATE: It seems I was wrong, but not before others picked up on this idea. As it turns out, the Google Nexus One isn’t nearly as disruptive as a VOIP-driven, ad-supported device could be. I still maintain that the below is possible, and hopefully we’ll see it one day soon.
This isn’t specific to film, but considering mobile devices today are much more than just phones — they’re connected computers that serve as our digital, personal assistants — this has bearing on how all of us will be interacting with each other (and content) in the future. So I thought I’d throw around some unqualified and totally speculative speculation about What’s Next when it comes to mobile platforms. More »
Ty: Like you stated though, all you need is a PC that runs iTunes (for now) With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
Ty: Ah. Good point. Ever since switching over to Apple I've kind of taken fo… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
William: What I want to see is a device that will bury the cable companies. Time Wa… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
Koo: That's a good point -- all you need is another piece of Apple hardware tha… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait