This tutorial on the companion Tech Ease for Mac site shows you how to use Inspiration to create concept maps that help you brainstorm and organize your ideas. The movies were recorded on a Mac, but Inspiration is a cross-platform program so the steps shown should work on the Windows version of the program as well. Watch and learn how to use Inspiration to create concept maps.
Guy Fawkes Night (or Day as it's known stateside, and commonly called Bonfire, Cracker, or Fireworks night) celebrates the anniversary of Catholic conspirators attempting to blow up the Parliament houses in London. Celebrated on November 5th, Guy Fawkes is traditionally hung in effigy and many parade around in Guy Fawkes mask. This mask may be particularly familiar thanks the movie "V for Vendetta" as the mask worn by V. This video tutorial from MIT students, shows how to fold this origami Gu...
What makes a good movie good is that it is both aesthetically pleasing and has an interesting point/plot. This video runs you through how to make it visually effective, stressing how you frame and compose a shot. While the Rule of Thirds is forever a great way to make shots interesting, there are other ways you can set up a shot.
What would David Lynch do? Well, being a deep, deep man, David Lynch would meditate. Elephant Man, Eraserhead, the Straight Story, Blue Velvet, and so on, David Lynch has been writing and directing movies that have alternately scared, confused, and inspired an international audience and devoted fan base. Cinematic genius or no, Lynch is still just a man, who is filled with anxiety and wants happiness. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to get involved in transcendental meditation and how...
Like most of us, you probably recorded some of your favorite memories onto a VHS tape. Preserve the good times by transferring the tape to a DVD.
Continuing on with budget lighting, we explore using Fluorescent and LED lights, along with using available light, bouncing it with a reflector. These setups will work great for interviews, video casting, vlogging, and the likes. These lights use less power and also generate much less heat then big halogen work lights, and the price can't be beat. We also show the benefits of adjusting white balance on your camera, with lots of before and after shots. If you are shooting independent movies, s...
Everyone benefits from positive coping strategies when dealing with divorce – learn how. Step 1: Stay in touch with both parents
In this video, watch as film studies graduate and movie critic Amy Wallace teaches how to be a movie critic. Learn how to research films, how to watch movies at home and in theaters with care, how to take notes during a film, how to reflect on a movie, the importance of honesty, the of positive, and the art of negative in movie reviews, and how to deal with reviewers' remorse. All good art needs good critics to survive, grow, and improve. Watch these videos and start improving the art of movi...
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic means that social distancing has become the new normal. It also means that more Americans are using video conferencing to connect with colleagues working from home or friends and family in quarantine because of the new coronavirus.
The streaming content vision from Magic Leap recently underwent a quiet but major update, courtesy of AT&T.
Hollywood loves sequels so much that studios and their marketing teams are not too proud to release a sequel of an augmented reality promotion.
Despite less than glowing reviews from critics, the latest installment from the Harry Potter spinoff movie series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, is winning at the box office.
You might think you need to buy a thousand dollar phone to get a great experience while streaming movies and TV shows from services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, but that's just not true anymore. While phone prices keep rising and the midrange segment now ranges from $300–$500, there are still cost-effective options that come with top-notch displays and media features.
Media subscriptions are all the rage these days. Between Netflix, Apple Music, HBO Now, and countless more, your TV, movie, and music options have never been better. Unfortunately, all these choices weigh heavily on your wallet. So, when there's an opportunity to snag not just Spotify but Hulu and Showtime as well, all for just a tad bit over five dollars a month, how could you turn that down?
For many, phones are starting to replace televisions as the primary device for watching videos. Thanks to their portability and easy to use apps, it's often simpler to watch Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, or Prime Instant Video on the smaller screen. But not every phone is suited to fit this need, so we did some testing to find the best of the best when it comes to streaming videos.
One of Apple's most touted (but seldom seen on social media) apps, Clips, got an update on Wednesday.
Now even muggles can see how they'd look chasing the Golden Snitch on a Nimbus 2000. That's because Snapchat is gifting Harry Potter fans with a 3D Bitmoji Lens that adorns their digital doppelgängers in the robes of the houses of Hogwarts.
The company behind Japan's beloved Gozilla, Japan's Toho Studios, has for years tried to give fans the sense of what a giant, nuclear-powered lizard invading Tokyo might feel like. Until now, those attempts have been limited to the movie theater, but now, with the help of the Microsoft HoloLens, Godzilla is finally getting its chance to invade the actual city, with terrified fans looking on from a safe distance.
Despite the wide availability of markerless augmented reality experiences for mobile devices, there is still a market for scanned triggers for content, as evidenced by the new image recognition capabilities on Facebook's Camera AR platform.
Soon, kids young and old aspiring to imitate Iron Man will only need to learn how to duplicate Tony Stark's snarky wit, because Hasbro will now supply the augmented reality helmet.
Think you're a true Star Wars fan? I bet you haven't created a demo using Apple's ARKit that creates a map of the entire Star Wars galaxy. How's that for being a fanatic?
It's no secret that HBO has some ... mature content. Just watch the first five minutes of Game of Thrones. Yeah, I know. What a ride. But here's the thing — HBO has kids content, too, and it's good stuff!
If you have movies and videos stored on Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, you should definitely be using the VLC app for iPhone. After setting a few things up, VLC will let you stream videos directly from any of these services with a proper video player UI, complete with gesture controls.
Whether you're hard of hearing, watching a foreign movie, or just like reading along when you're watching a TV show or film on your smartphone, Netflix includes captions and subtitles that you can use. Best of all, if you don't like the way the default captions and subtitles look (color, background, font, or size), Netflix has your back.
Despicable Me 3 is coming to theaters this summer, and it seems that Minions are everywhere. Literally. You can't even escape them on social media because they've taken over Snapchat with the release of three augmented reality lenses. That's right, this new AR feature means that there could be Minions in your flower crown.
Universal Studios and Cinemark Theaters have enlisted mobile augmented reality game Seek to promote The Mummy, a reboot of the action-adventure film franchise starring summer movie mainstay Tom Cruise.
Now you can watch your old copy of Bridget Jones's Diary anywhere, anytime, on your smartphone. It's a dream come true! (Disclaimer: This dream may oddly specific to me.)
The force is strong with this project. Colin Furze is a British YouTuber who is a self-proclaimed "garage inventor and video maker." In a recent collaboration with eBay, Furze created the "ultimate Star Wars project," an 18-feet-tall playhouse version of the AT-ACT from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Mixed reality filmmaking isn't a new concept. Disney managed to make it work in 1988 with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but not without an enormous amount of work. We haven't seen many mixed reality films of that scope since, and perhaps that's because it's still hard to accomplish. Filmmakers don't look through a viewfinder or monitor and see the fully rendered result on screen—but that can change with mixed reality headsets like the HoloLens.
These days, there are Android apps for every budget—forgive me if that sounds like a car commercial, but that's just the way things are in the age of the smartphone and tablet. You've got apps that require monthly subscriptions, paid apps that will run you a $30 one-time installation fee, and even games that start at 99 cents, but quickly skyrocket in price with in-app purchases.
Netflix subscribers (or friends of subscribers) have been able to utilize a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy service to gain access to content in other countries. Unfortunately, the movie and TV streaming service announced today that it will soon block those services so that viewers will only have access to movies and shows that are licensed for the country they're currently in.
The biggest problem with Netflix (which is hardly a real problem) is the overwhelming amount of content available for streaming. Browsing through profile-specific categories might help narrow down your search on something to watch, but some of those categories come and go without warning, and it's impossible to find them again—but not anymore.
According to the American Osteopathic Association, "1 in 5 teens has some form of hearing loss," and some experts believe it's because of an increase in headphones use. While I understand that music, movies, and video games help keep children preoccupied, there's no reason why they can't be entertained at a healthy hearing level.
Ant-Man isn't one of the most famous Marvel superheroes. In fact, with the news of his individual movie came great doubt that the comic book legends could succeed in telling the tiny story of an oddball hero on the big screen. Yet with its humor and unique story, Ant-Man has become a hit movie in its own right—and the hero will most certainly make a hit Halloween costume.
Out of all the new features in iOS 9, the two most important ones specific to iPads are split screen multitasking and floating video windows. The latter is truly great, since you can watch movies or use FaceTime while you use different apps. The feature is called Picture in Picture, and here's what you need to know about it.
Apple is offering free full episodes of popular TV shows and free songs from artists with its most recent update to the iTunes Store. In the Music section, "Free on iTunes" seems to have replaced "Single of the Week," which used to give lesser-known independent artists a chance to give their music away in hopes that it would increase their popularity.
By now, nearly everyone with any type of media access is aware that Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked on November 24th. Although there can be many interpretations and lessons drawn from this audacious act, there is one indisputable conclusion: it and its ripples across the globe underlines how important hacking has become in our all-digital 21st century. As I have emphasized so many times in this column, hacking is the discipline of the future. From cybercrime to cyber intelligence to cy...
If you missed out on Black Friday this year, you've got a second chance at saving some big bucks on apps, mobile devices, HDTVs, and other tech. See below for all of the hot Cyber Monday deals from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other online retailers. This list will be continuously updated throughout the day, so bookmark it to stay up to date on all the of Cyber Monday discounts.
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" That iconic quote from the 1987 movie RoboCop was repeated by kids like me for years. The 2014 reboot introduced the baddest robot-cop on the planet to new audiences worldwide. While it didn't live up to the amazingly high expectations set by its predecessors, RoboCop 2014 did show off some newly upgraded gear. The modern look is cool and all, but rolling to a party rocking the 1987 helmet with the retro visor cannot be beat. With Halloween coming up, i...
Today, I'm taking a short break from my usual secret tips to share some exciting news with all of you. As some of you may already know, my first published book "I Think I Am in Friend-Love with You" will be released in bookstores next month.