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motion posts

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla, Browsers, Web

Firefox 3.6 to recognize if your computer is tilted

Firefox 3.6 tilt recognition
If your computer has an accelerometer in it, Firefox 3.6 will be able to detect when your computer is tilting to the left, right, front, or back.

Accelerometers serve a number of purposes in laptops and tablets. In some cases, they can be used to shut down a hard drive if your computer is falling so that less damage occurs when your laptop hits the floor. But they can also be used to add motion-sensitive controls to some applications. And starting with the next generation of the web browser, Firefox will be one of those applications.

Mozilla developer Christopher Blizzard has published a short video showing the new feature in action. Mozilla is releasing an API that allows web publishers to support the feature. Enabled web pages will be able to respond as your computer moves, allowing you to play web games with motion controls or just to rotate your screen and read web pages in portrait mode.

Support has been added for Mac, Linux, and some Lenovo Thinkpad models.

[via CNet]

Filed under: Blogging, Social Software, web 2.0

Movable Type launches Motion social streaming package

The Moveable Type folks at Six Apart have officially released the cross-platform publishing package they announced late last year. It's called Motion, and it's available to Movable Type Pro users now. Motion lets you publish to multiple services at once, and it allows your community members to comment using their existing accounts on Google, Yahoo and Facebook.

You can quick-publish a microblog via Motion -- including photos, videos and other rich content -- and you can pull in your activity on other sites, including Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. This basically seems like a quick and easy way to do the kind of thing social networking geeks have been doing by hand on their own sites. If you're the sort of person who thinks of a website as a community, you definitely want to give Motion a look.

Filed under: Audio, Design, Video, Macintosh, Apple, Commercial

Apple announces Final Cut Studio 2

Engadget had live coverage of the Apple keynote taking place at NAB. Here's what was announced in the world of software:



Final Cut Server: Media asset management, workflow automation, automated encode and publish. It includes a cross platform interface so PC users aren't left out of the game. Cost is $999 for 10 concurrent users, $1999 for unlimited concurrent users. It will be available this summer.

Final Cut Studio 2: Includes Final Cut Pro 6, Compressor 3, Motion 3 and Soundtrack Pro 2. There's also a new kid included in the FCS2 family, Color, which provides real time application color grading. Color is the result of Apple's acquisition of FinalTouch. The cost of FCS2 stays at $1299. Current Final Cut Studio users can upgrade for $499, and users with any older version of Final Cut Pro can upgrade for $699.

There's a member of the Final Cut Studio family that was not mentioned, DVD Studio Pro. It is still included in FCS2, but the Apple store lists it as version 4, which is the current version. The Apple store was down for a bit, as usual, but it's back online and you can order FCS2 right now, but it won't ship until May.

Filed under: Photo, Security, Video, Windows, Open Source

How to use your webcam as a motion-detecting security system

Webcam securityWorried about unsavory individuals lurking around your office or home and jacking your computer gear? Have no fear! With the help of your Windows PC, webcam, some free software, and this handy tutorial from Simplehelp, you can set up a reasonably sophisticated DIY security system. The core of the tutorial is Dorgem, an open source utility that captures images from your webcam and can save images based on "storage events," e.g. every 30 seconds or every time it detects motion. Since having photos of your intruder on your computer isn't very useful after the computer is gone, Dorgem has the ability to send the files to an external server via FTP or HTTP, or hand the files off to another program. The tutorial also covers more advanced techniques, like setting up multiple webcams and hiding your webcam from sight.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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