Articles - Ads - Websites - Vocabulary

 

Articles on Multimedia Topics -

1. Assisting Educators On the Use of Technology

2. Multimedia Projectors: A Key Component in the Classroom

3. Case Study: Web + DVD = The Elements of Education?

4. Revenge of the Librarians: Journal Prices Under Siege

5. Video research at MIT puts words into mouths

6. Empowered Editing" Turns Out Turnkey DV Solutions

 

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Advertisement Reviews -

Canon Ad - This ad was in the July/August 2002 issue of American Photo. It appeals to an audience of both pro and serious amatuer digital photographers and I think it really works. The USB wire leads you down the page, emphasizing that this technology by-passes the computer completely and goes directly from camera to printer. It is clean, simple and to the point. I'd buy one if I had they $$$!

Sigma Ad - This ad was also in the July/August 2002 issue of American Photo. This is another ad that appeals to an audience of both pro and serious amatuer digital photographers. It is simple and to the point. It shows an example of the type of photo you can achieve with their lens, and also takes into consideration the digital photography with the line: "The first ultra-wideangle zoom lens suitable for both digital SLRs." Again, if I had the money, this would be the one I'd buy as the 15mm wide angle allows for the 1.5x difference with digital cameras and still provides a great wide view.

DVA Ad - This ad was in he July 2002 issue of EMedia magazine. This eye-catching ad is again, simple and to the point. It appeals to both pro and amateur multimedia specialists with: "If your business revolves around optical disks, you should know our name." Very direct and concise. Little fluff, but eye-catching as well with the images of digital technology arranged in the form of a disc. It made me look.

Anthro Ad - This ad was in the August 2002 issue of Macworld. This add is very simple but works. Again, a one-liner: "If you can imagine it, we can configure it." Above that catch-phrase they have 4 very different configs for their carts to show how they handle all configs. They also have the small shot near the bottom to show how much weight their carts can hold (3 big guys standing on a cart.) Again, if I could afford it, I'd probably buy these.

Avid 1 and Avid 2 ads - These are for digital video editing software. I find this funny because you can really see the markup on some of these products between these 2 ads. Avid 1 is an ad that a friend of mine scanned for me. They increased the price by $200 if you bought it through them. Of course, they "throw in" technical know-how and support, but I believe you can get this straight through Avid as well. (Kind of like buying local vs. buying mail order.) Seems like a big profit to me! Both ads are well done. Both ads go for all audiences interested in DV Editing software and #1 makes sure to mention that Avid is "the professional choice." #2 is from the back of July 2002 MacAddict magazine. It goes more for the semi-pro or weekend editor showing that it can be portable enough to go on your powerbook. They both seem to work for me.

 

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Web Site Links-

4 Teachers - Great site for teachers. Has links to webquests, ideas on integrating technology into the classroom, prof. development, rubric-maker, and lots more.

Digital Post Production - A digital video source. Discussions, reviews, new products, good site to keep up with what's new and fresh in digital production.

Mac DVD Info - a web site in which a Mac user can find most of the DVD software tools that are available for the Mac. The DVD resource with great info for newbies to pros.

MacIntouch - All the Mac News that's "fit to print." This site is updated daily with new information on all types of applications, bugs, hints, tips, tricks and discussions of my favorite platform to work on: The Macintosh.

DVD FAQ - THE DVD question and answer guide for EVERYTHING. If you can't find it here, I don't know where you can. Great resource for DVD information of ALL types for all platforms.
(Be PATIENT, this one is BIG and takes a while to load.)

Freeplay Music - Free music clips and background loops for all your multimedia needs. This is a GREAT music resource!

FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing. Type in a term and you'll get a precise definition.

iMovie Tutorials - Great online tutorials of the easiest multimedia tool around: iMovie.

Web Worksheet Wizard - This web-based utility will allow you to create a lesson, worksheet or class page on the World Wide Web. All you need to use this utility is your browser and some time.

Creative Mac - Nice site for those of us who like to be creative with our computers. News, reviews, tutorials, and also audio and video sections.

The Journal - Great resource for educators on all apects of technology.

EMedia - Good multimedia info on "keeping up with technology."

Wayback Machine - Search the web as it once was. An archive of the internet!

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New Vocabulary List -

WebDVD - used mostly for educational and instructional uses. A DVD is created, then "ported" over to the web for use anywhere the internet can be accessed. Looks like a DVD (controls) but can be used over the web.

DDR RAM - Double Data Rate Random Access Memory - can transfer information on both odd and even clock cycles so it works doubly fast.

DVD Region Codes - This is a code that guards against playing a certain region-coded DVD in a player that is region-coded differently. Example: Men In Black comes out in DVD for the US, but in Europe it is just coming out on the big screen. To make sure that Europeans can't just buy the DVD instead of going to the theater, they put a different region code on the US DVD so it can't be played on a European-coded player.

Dvix - a "pay per view" type of DVD. Purchase a disc for $4 and you then had 48 hours to watch it from the time you placed it in the player. A Dvix player was needed to play these Dvix discs. Most also play normal DVDs as well.

snarf - to grab a particularly large document off the internet, usually to be used with or without permission of the creator. "I'll snarf down this copy of ....."

SMTP - Time code standard gives your tape a unique time code on your DV tapes for each frame or shooting session.

Striping your DV tape - shooting a tape of "Black" to lay down a continuous time code throughout your tape so you don't have multiple time code sessions on one tape.

Locked / Unlocked Audio - This has to do with the sample rate of audio "precisely" matching up with the video frame rate. Locked Audio keeps precisely the same rate of audio samples per video frame. Unlocked Audio can vary +/- 25 audio samples per frame. Locked Audio systems cost quite a bit more than "unlocked" systems.

"Hard" vs "Soft" Codecs - Hard codecs are codecs based in hardware. You supply raw video and power to this hardware and out comes your compressed video in realtime at the other. Hard codecs are good as they free up your CPU to do other things. Soft codecs are software-based codecs. Soft codecs also use up CPU power.

BLOB - short for binary large object. A database file usually associated with holding multimedia objects such as sounds or film clips.

AAF - Advanced Authoring Format - file format developed by Microsoft in 1998 in order to standardize (monopolize,) the multimedia file format. Use will depend upon developers who choose to use this format.

Jitter buster - a device that trys to reduce the amount of jitteryness (flickering signals) on a monitor.

RTT - Real time technology - technology that allows a user to receive data during the actual time that a physical process occurs - in realtime.

Audio scrubbing - the process of moving around within a tape to look for a certain part or sound.

Ripper - a program that grabs audio or video from a CD or DVD. Usually illegally for duplication purposes.

MCI - Media Control Interface - a Microsoft application interface used to control multimedia devices such as CD ROM players, etc.

Mbone - Multicast Backbone - an extension of the internet to support several clients or sites at once. Used for text and graphics.

Common Intermediate Format - a video format that supports both NTSC and PAL (US and European) usually used for video conferencing.

MCU - Multi-point Control Unit - a video conferencing device used for controlling the connection between 2 ends of the conf call. It looks at both ends and determines how they will "talk."

COLD - acronym for Computer output to laser disk. (Burning a CD or DVD.)

 

Articles - Ads - Websites - Vocabulary

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