New Media Center
at the University of Mary Washington
Evom. Is it Mov(i)e backwards?
Welcome to the new school year. I’m still shaking my head about where the summer went. I’m also still grinding gears from vacation last week, but despite those issues, I’m very excited about 2010/11 at UMW. While perusing my RSS feed today, Lifehacker reminded me about Evom, a Mac only (sorry) video converter that is super slick and easy. If it were on the PC it could be the one program I would recommend to do a myriad of tasks. Evom comes from a company called Little App Factory, makers of the Mac DVD ripping software RipIt! I don’t know where the name Evom came from, but the program works great. It converts many types of videos, and uses the ffmpeg engine to perform its magic. The beauty of the program is the ease... (more...)
Podcasting – Busting the myths
Myth #1 – You need an iPod to podcast In theory you don’t really need to even own an MP3 player, let alone an iPod. Podcasting gets it’s name from the iPod (Start with the word Broadcasting, take out Broad and substitute Pod). It’s the idea that you are broadcasting to an iPod, but you are actually broadcasting to any MP3 player or even just a person’s computer through the web. It is also not LIVE broadcasting, it’s more like a magazine subscription. Myth #2 – You need an iPod to listen to podcasts As we said in Myth #1, you can listen to podcasts on any MP3 player, UNLESS, the podcast is ONLY available in AAC format from iTunes. Even then there are some portable players that support some AAC files (Microsoft’s... (more...)
What to look for in a camcorder
Shopping for a camcorder has never been an easy experience, but there has been constant improvement in the quality of video that can be obtained. Before you buy a camera, know what your final destination for your video is. Is it YouTube? Then you won’t need the highest quality camera because this is low resolution video. However, having said that, YouTube does offer HD quality video on their site, so high resolution video is now an option. Will you be making a DVD? Then you’ll want to get a high quality camera. Will you just re-watch it on your TV? Make sure you’ve got the right cables to make the connection. If you’ve got an HDTV, you might want to consider and HD camera. If you’re ready to shop you can start... (more...)
Jing Thing
Now Jing might sound like the name of a Chinese dynasty but, it is actually a free piece of software that allows you to do screen captures, create screencasts, and share it all easily. So lets break Jing down. As a screen capturing software it is great. As some of you Windows users probably have experienced, taking screenshots is a pain in the behind. Jing allows you to capture a window, pane, or region so you get just what you need. Jing also has a simple markup feature so you can add a text box, arrow, rectangle, or highlight what you want. After you have your screenshot you have several options... (more...)
Evom. Is it Mov(i)e backwards?
Welcome to the new school year. I’m still shaking my head about where the summer went. I’m also still grinding gears from vacation last week, but despite those issues, I’m very excited about 2010/11 at UMW. While perusing my RSS feed today, Lifehacker reminded me about Evom, a Mac only (sorry) video converter that is super slick and easy. If it were on the PC it could be the one program I would recommend to do a myriad of tasks. Evom comes from a company called Little App Factory, makers of the Mac DVD ripping software RipIt! I don’t know where the name Evom came from,... (more...)
A Real Podcatcher for the iPhone
Sometimes Apple leaves features out of products for inexplicable reasons . We’re on version 3.0 of the iPhone software and their iTunes application does not allow you to subscribe to a podcast using the standard itpc:// protocol, nor can you add a feed manually, like you can with the desktop version of iTunes. The screenshot from the iPhone above shows you what happens when you click on an iTunes subscribe link in the web browser. An alternative program with the above features that you can use for the iPhone is called RSS Player. I mentioned this app in my post about AudioBoo, and it will... (more...)
About us
Welcome to the University of Mary Washington New Media Center. The UMWNMC is a sub-division of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies (DTLT), and as part of its mission, provides research, oversees development, and offers production assistance and consultation for new media approaches to supporting technology-enhanced and online learning at UMW. You can also follow us on Twitter @umwnewmedia .
The University of Mary Washington is a member of the New Media Consortium, which we joined in 2007. The NMC provides programs and services that foster the exploration of new media and new technologies. The NMC provides an annual Horizon Project that reports on the emerging technologies in education.