New Next.Yahoo.Com Coming Soon
September 20, 2007
(Update 10/30/07: The Next.Yahoo.com website is down, and returns an error message.)
Next.Yahoo.com has been where Yahoo announces its new projects, beta versions of services, and experimental features. Much like Google Labs, but Next.Yahoo.com was first. However, Next.Yahoo.com has been languishing for quite a while, with nil new features or beta versions being added to this page in what must be over a year or more.
Just a few moments ago, the old Next.Yahoo.com site was taken down (see old cached version), and a “text painting” (reprinted below) of two dolphins was put into its stead. One dolphin is bemoaning the fact that next.yahoo.com is offline, and the other one hinting at good things to come. This retro sketch, and the humor in it, is so un-Yahoo that, well, it’s gotten me excited. What will the new next.yahoo.com bring? Hang on …
OH NOEZ, TEH NEXT.YAHOO.COM
SITE IS OFFLINE!!!11one1
/
_.-~ ) No need for distress, Giles.
_..--~~~~,' ,-/ _ I believe the site will be
.-'. . . .' ,-',' ,' ) revived in due time.
,'. . . _ ,--~,-'__..-' ,'
,'. . . (@)' ---~~~~ ,' __
/. . . . '~~ ,-' ( ~-._
/. . . . . ,-' _ -, `,~~~~--.._
; . . . . - . ,' ( `, `,`-, '. . . .`-.
: . . . . _ / ', `-..__`-,~--, _ . . .`,
. . . . . `-.: `, ~~~~--- `(@) . . .`,
. . . ./ - . ) `-, ~~` . . . .
. . . | _____..---.._/ ____ `-, . . . . .
_ . . . . :
:.-` . . . . .
(the new next.yahoo.com is under contruction. be on the lookout.)
Easiest way to subtitle and show your videos: Overstream + Google Video
September 17, 2007
Heads up: a new subtitled bonus video at the end of this blog post — this time, of my younger daughter walking for the first time!
Four months ago, I told you about Overstream, a website where you can easily add subtitles / captions to your videos. Several of you (including myself) mentioned that while this website was wonderful, there wasn’t a way to move your captioned videos from one site to another.
I’m happy to tell you that Overstream now has made it easy to export your captions / subtitles to other video-hosting websites.
Max, the creator of Overstream, recently added a feature where you can save your subtitles as a “.srt” file. An SRT file pretty much just contains your subtitles and the times in hundreds of seconds that they are to appear (and then disappear) in your video. I believe SRT files are similar to what is being used by major television and movie producers, but I could be wrong. And I also believe this is similar to what rather complex subtitling computer programs create — like Subtitle Workshop and MAGpie.
Anyhow, on Overstream, after you’re finished creating your subtitles, you can then click on “Tools” to see an option for exporting current subtitles as SRT. Click on that option, and then you’ll get an option to save the subtitles as a file on your computer or copy all the subtitles (and time codes) to your clipboard. (Hey Max, yet another suggestion: can you add buttons to allow the user to move the current video frame back or fro a half second, a second, and five seconds? I found myself constantly re-positioning the arrow showing the current video frame.)
Last July, I told you how Google had added a feature where you can upload “.srt” files which is used to add captions / subtitles to videos. This is where you can import the SRT file you created with Overstream, or even paste the subtitles into a special text box.
And thus, I was able to easily subtitle my 21-second Google video of my younger daughter walking for the first time! Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how I did this:
- Upload my video to Google Video
- Go to Overstream.net and create a new Overstream (series of subtitles) using my new Google Video as the base video
- Export the subtitles (via the Tools button on the Overstream Subtitles editing screen) to a SRT file on my computer
- Go back to Google Video, and view my “Uploaded Videos“
- Click on the “Add” button next to “Captions / Subtitles” for that video
- Upload my SRT file to Google Video
- … and hey presto, the video is now subtitled!
A huge benefit of using Google Video and an uploaded SRT file is that the subtitles can be turned on or off (!!!) using the “CC” button at the bottom of the video screen. The subtitles appear just below the video itself. Doubling the size of the video or making it full-screen still makes the subtitles look sharp — the subtitles aren’t stretched and distorted, but rather the font size is increased by Google Video. Very nice. When the video is embedded on another website, like what I’m doing below, the captions seem a bit small — but that seems to be a Google Video issue and not Overstream’s.
The SRT export functionality brings the Overstream - Google Video duo to the top of my list of recommended sites to use to caption your video. Thanks, Max, for listening to us and adding this super-duper-terrific functionality! Makes me think — it’s not easy for a sitemaster like Max to allow users who create media on his site to take this media elsewhere, so I really appreciate the new Export SRT file feature that Max added.
What’s that? You want me to shut up now and show you the video? Ok, ok! Without further ado, here’s the video of my younger daughter walking for the first time!
Drooling over Groovle
September 10, 2007
I use Google several times every day. Its standard home page is quite plain, and that’s actually the way it ought to be. It loads easily and quickly, and is easy on the eyes. (If you’re using iGoogle, sometimes it can take a few seconds to load — that’s why I still use the original, plain Google website.)
But there are times when I want this Google page to be somewhat jazzed up, yet load as quickly. And by jazzed up, I don’t mean dressed up with widgets and useful information. I meant, dressed up with someone I’d like to, ahem, drool over.
And then I tried Groovle.
Ah, now there’s a great idea that actually pretty much signifies nothing! Groovle presents a search field and page much like Google’s, and in fact it brings you to Google for its search results. But where Groovle truly glows is the fact that it uses a large photo of someone or something of your choice on its homepage. It could be your favorite celebrity, animal, nature scene, or even a photo you upload. I quickly found a page featuring a large photo of Nick Lachey, one of my favorite celebrities next to the search box. I’m going to use this page as my search page from now on!
I wonder what my partner will pick as his favorite search page. I hope it’s not something corny like a chihuahua next to the search box …
What would YOU pick as your favorite search picture / page on Groovle?
(Thanks, TechCrunch!)
Zoho Starts a New Feature
August 29, 2007
You’ve repeatedly heard me extoll Zoho’s virtues. (I love Zoho!) I use Zoho for wordprocessing and spreadsheet’ing, and I know I can use it to create databases, presentations, manage employees, and much more.
And now Zoho has released a feature I’ve been wanting for a while: a Start page. With a Start page, Zoho can now unify its various apps, giving a more centralized location for all of my documents. In the past, I’ve had to log in to Zoho’s wordprocessing app, then log in separately to Zoho’s spreadsheet app. I’d write a wordprocessing document on an issue, and do a spreadsheet file too — and until now I wasn’t able to see both files at the same time.
With Zoho’s Start page, I can now see all of my wordprocessing documents, spreadsheets, and presentation files at once. I can now even create folders and move (via right-click) files into these folders. Clicking on that folder shows all the files associated with it. Clicking on Box View switches me from seeing all of my files as a list to several boxes showing all presentation files in one box, spreadsheet files in another, and so on. The boxes can be dragged around to change their order (and so can the folders in the left column). Very handy. New files can be created directly from the Start page as well. While this Start page only unifies wordprocessing, spreadsheet, and presentation files, Zoho folks are saying that its other apps will be added to the Start page soon.
I’ve only tried the new Start page for a few moments, and I find it very useful. I will be using this page as my “go to” destination from now on whenever I need to read or create a file through Zoho.
At this point, I only have one quibble: I think the folders view in the left column need some work. The “My Docs” folder actually lists all of your private documents, the “Shared Docs” lists all of your shared docs, and the individually created folders lists some of the same documents. This becomes confusing. Instead, I think that there ought to be a master folder labelled something like “All Docs.” All subsequent folders — “public docs,” “private docs,” and individually created folders — would be sub-folders of the master folder.
Yes, in true geek-speak: “One Folder to Rule Them All. One Folder to Find Them. One Folder to Bring Them All and In The Brightness Bind Them.”
Zoho Gears Up
August 21, 2007
Two months ago, I blogged about Google Gears, a new Google feature that enables web services to work off-line — that is, you’d be able to use these web services without being connected to the Internet. And I exhorted my favorite on-line office suite website, Zoho, to “gear up” and make some of its services available off-line as well as on-line.
I’d love to say, “Know what? Zoho listened to me!” (And in fact, a Zoho staffer evangelist left a comment on that blog post saying “We are certainly looking into this. Thank you for your suggestion.”) But I’m more than certain that Zoho folks had already begun work on gearing up. And today, Zoho made it possible to view Zoho Writer (its on-line word-processor) documents off-line as well as on-line. In another several weeks, users will be able to use Zoho Writer off-line as well — right now, we can only view documents off-line.
To use this new feature, users would need to use Internet Explorer or Firefox with Google Gears installed.
As TechCrunch points out, it’s very ironic that Zoho Writer has incorporated off-line features before its competitor, Google Docs, did. And by using Google Gears software developed by Google itself!
Update: Zoho just blogged about this new functionality, and baldly hinted at a new Writer feature coming up next week …
(Thanks, TechCrunch!)
Bye Bye Yahoo Photos
August 20, 2007
A while ago, Yahoo! bought Flickr, a popular photo-sharing website. Yahoo! also runs Yahoo! Photos, which gave users the option of storing photos privately or sharing them with family and friends. Even though the two services have somewhat different goals (one is more for storage, the other is more for sharing), Yahoo! decided to close Yahoo! Photos.
If you’re like me and you’ve got some (lots of?) photos on Yahoo! Photos, then you’ve got a deadline to decide where to move your photos to. Yahoo! is making it easy for you to migrate your photos to Flickr or even to some of its competitor photo-sharing locations. Just do it by September 20, 2007 or else you’ll lose your photos!
Here’s an email that Yahoo! recently sent to many Yahoo! Photos users (with links removed in case they have any identifying information):
Dear Yahoo! Photos user,
For some time now, we’ve supported two great photo sharing services: Yahoo! Photos and Flickr. But even good things come to an end, and we’ve decided to close Yahoo! Photos to focus all our efforts on Flickr — the award-winning photo sharing community that TIME Magazine has called “completely addictive.”
We will officially close Yahoo! Photos on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 9 p.m. PDT. Until then, we are offering you the opportunity to move to another photo sharing service (Flickr, KODAK Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, or Photobucket). We’re making the transfer real simple, and with a couple clicks we’ll automatically move your photos to Flickr or wherever you want them. You can also download your original-resolution photos back to your computer, or buy an archive CD from our featured partner (for users of the New Yahoo! Photos only). All you need to do is tell us what to do with your photos before we close, after which any photos remaining on Yahoo! Photos will be deleted and no longer accessible.
Of course, we hope you’ll join us at Flickr (you can even use your Yahoo! ID), but we also realize that Flickr may not be for everyone. In the end, we want you to find the service that’s right for you, and we hope you take some time to learn more about your options before making this important decision.
Please give us your decision by Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 9 p.m. PDT. After that time, any photos remaining in Yahoo! Photos will be deleted. Click here to make your decision, or review a list of our frequently asked questions.
Thanks for being a part of the Web’s largest photo sharing service — we hope to see you over at Flickr!
If you have already moved or downloaded your photos, please disregard this message.
The Yahoo! Photos team
Add Video Chat to your Facebook Page
August 16, 2007
Wanna add video chat to your Facebook page? Now you can, with TokBox!
Facebook is now the rage among many of my friends (both hearing and deaf). One very neat feature of Facebook that puts it heads and shoulders over other similar networking websites is the ability to add widgets and features to your Facebook pages. That is, you can pick from literally hundreds or perhaps even thousands of different nifty widgets / features made by other websites specifically for Facebook.
TokBox is a great example of a widget that adds even more functionality to your Facebook profile. With TokBox’s widget, you can chat with others via video directly from your (or your friend’s) Facebook profile, or pop the video into its own window so that you can browse to other pages without losing the conversation. If your friend isn’t available to video-chat, you can leave video mail or voice mail.
You can also use TokBox by itself, again through the browser. No download needed.
I haven’t tried this out. If you do, let us know what you think. I’m particularly interested in whether the video is good enough to really chat with each other in sign language — or if the frame-per-second (fps) is so slow that all you can do is wave slowly at each other.
(Thanks, TechCrunch!)
Azooca Mail — another video mail service
August 6, 2007
Video mail is certainly beginning to come out of the woodworks! I recently reviewed EyeJot, and now there’s a competitor — Azooca Mail.
Azooca Mail is similar to EyeJot in that Azooca Mail provides you with your own email address (yourname@azoocamail.com), and allows you to record a video of up to 60 seconds. It’s free, and its interface is okay. I was able to record a video in no time at all, and send it to a friend of mine. My friend then got an email with a big button; upon pressing that button, he was able to instantly view my video email (after a two-second advertisement). Easy. The friend could then quickly sign up or sign in and respond with another video email or with a text-only email.
I felt that EyeJot was the better of the two. EyeJot’s interface feels better, and more importantly, if I got new video email at my EyeJot account, Eyejot would send a notification to my primary or pager email address. Otherwise, I’d never have known that someone sent me video email to my EyeJot account! It doesn’t seem as if Azooca Mail would notify me if I get new email.
Nonetheless, it’s very nice to see more and more video email services coming out! The competition will just drive each other to add more and more features, and keep the prices low (or free!).
Spinvox + Skype = SMS Voicemail
August 3, 2007
The hugely popular Skype service has pretty much left the deaf community behind because, well, its primary service is low-cost or free voice communications over the Internet. Its video chat quality isn’t up to par (at least when I tested it several months ago), and so I quickly stopped using Skype. But that hasn’t stopped many hearies from signing up for Skype — and using its voice communication services (much like a telephone) over the Internet. Some cell phones are even beginning to allow Skype voice services whereever WiFi is available — saves a lot on caller minutes.
But now there’s a reason for deaf folks to have a Skype account. Skype has paired up with Spinvox (which I briefly wrote about several months ago) to convert voicemail on Skype accounts to text messages (otherwise known as SMS) that can then be sent to any cellphone.
This could be an useful pairing for us deafies. If you’ve got hearing family members who use Skype for low-cost or free voice communications through the Internet, now they can call your Skype account and leave a voice message for you. The voice message will then be converted to text and sent to your Sidekick or Blackberry (or Treo if you’re lucky and geeky enough to have one) as a SMS message.
If you do this, let us know in the comments what you think of this service.
(Thanks, Download Squad!)
Back In Town, And What I Used
July 31, 2007
Hello all! I’m back in town after nearly two weeks in the far Northwest — Seattle and the suburbs of Vancouver, B.C. It was strange not blogging the entire time. There were times when I was just itchin’ to get down and start blogging.
And it was strange too not being near the Internet for long stretches of time. But I had some geek things (mostly on my Palm Treo) to make up for it and alleviate some of my itchin’:
- eReader and several ebooks (thank you, Nora Roberts!) on my Treo
- The seventh Harry Potter book! (ok, nothing electronic here, but it does rate high on the geek-o-meter)
- Genius! from Hobbyist Software. See my previous review of it. It’s a nifty Treo program that finds information fast for you. I used it for checking my flight information and finding other information quickly — see the next several bullet points.
- The Wikipedia (used via Genius!) to look up nifty tidbits on Seattle and any other trivia stuff I could think of.
- IMDB (again, used via Genius!) to delve into obscure information like what was the name of the guy who played Superman on TV back in the mid-1900’s (George Reeves).
- Google (yet again, used via Genius!) to find yet even more obscure information like what the highest points in Seattle are (as well as the steepest streets).
- Google Reader (used via both my Treo and on the laptop) to keep up with news headlines, blogs, weather forecasts, my favorite comic strips, etc etc.
No matter how much I loved Seattle, it’s good to be home in suburban Maryland.
