Successful Kickstarter Project Lume Cube Now Available to Improve Your Photo & Video Lighting

lumecube wet 2Mobile photogs and cinematographers know the pain of setting up shots and trying to pull off great images when they lighting doesn’t cooperate. The flashes on our phones are often insufficient for “nice” lighting, and the fact that they’re so close to the camera sensor can create issues with reflections.

The folks at Lume Cube are looking to change up how we illuminate our images. Lume Cube is a small cube with a bright light built in, and it has a rechargeable battery for on the go use. It’s controlled remotely from your phone, and the Lume app can control multiple cubes for additional lighting. Instead of a traditional burst flash sync, it’s a steady LED light for both photos and videos.

lumecube goproThe company had a successful run on Kickstarter, and now the Cube is available for purchase through LumeCube.com or through WalMart and B&H. Alongside the Cube, they’ve also released mounting kits for connecting the cube to a DSLR hotshoe or adding a GoPro style mount to multiple Cube lights. Nice to see it’s already well accessorized.

I’ve been in situations trying to shoot on my phone where I’ve needed additional light, and have resorted to using another phone’s flash as an angled spot light. Lume Cube looks like it could be a potential solution to that issue, and is another accessory which should help legitimize mobile phone photo and video as we produce more professional content from consumer devices.

You can catch more info at https://www.lumecube.com/

How Facebook Profits Off of Stolen Content

As a Youtube content producer, I depend on ads and affiliate links to continue producing content. A single camera review will often take three or four days to produce for example. I stick with Youtube because they share revenue from ad sales and have a decent system in place to stop people who steal me videos and re-distribute them.

Facebook is claiming incredible video view growth, but these numbers are rigged pretty bad. They count a view after three seconds, even when the video is muted, and viewer engagement past 20 seconds is pitiful. They do not offer a revenue share, and have very poor tools for protecting copyright.

Basically uploading a video to Facebook only improves Facebook and a creator’s standing on Facebook for more likes. I can’t pay rent or buy food with “internet points”.

A new trend in stealing popular Youtube videos is rearing its head, emboldened by the fact that Facebook is fantastically passive in replying to copyright issues.

Following the digital extortion Facebook engages in with page posts, blocking your content from a majority of the people who like your page until you pay Facebook, these types of shenanigans are vile.

Youtube producer In A NutShell has published a fantastic infographic animated video detailing Facebook’s failure to defend content producers. If you care about smaller producers continuing to distribute high quality content, this video makes for an interesting educational watch.

Cricket Adds 5.5″ Acatel OneTouch Idol 3 for $149

Proving to be my Wife’s favorite phone of the year thanks to its low cost and front facing speakers, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is coming to Cricket!

When I reviewed it, I thought the Idol 3 was a budget champ at $250, but Cricket will be offering it for $149.99. Front facing stereo speakers, 5.5″ HD screen, MicroSD card expansion, and a nice mid-ranger camera. It’s a solid offering which covers the basics really well, and can be fun for rich multimedia playback.

Cricket will also be expanding their data plans, with LTE coverage for Canada and Mexico included at no additional cost.  You can read their full press release below.

Continue reading “Cricket Adds 5.5″ Acatel OneTouch Idol 3 for $149”

AT&T Offers Data Perks for Taking Surveys

Screenshot_2015-10-26-07-57-49Customer data is valuable, tracking trends and brands. It’s largely how users “pay” for services like Facebook.

Lately though, a number of services have started sharing perks with customers who volunteer to share info with brands and services. AT&T recently announced a partnership with Aquto to monetize this data gathering and offer their customers additional data for their plans.

Taking surveys, watching ads, or participating with product trials will net AT&T subscribers additional data for their monthly cap. It’s similar to the Google Rewards app which awards Google Play credit for taking surveys.

Users engage through a free app, and participating can reward customers up to an additional gigabyte of data per month.

This could be a novel way for AT&T to offer up a little “profit sharing” as Big Blue has struggled in the past with other data initiatives . You can read the full press release below.

Continue reading “AT&T Offers Data Perks for Taking Surveys”

Snapseed App Now Edits RAW Photos on Android!

Phones have recently started saving RAW photos, but we didn’t have many options for editing those photos out in the field. We would have to transfer those images to a proper computer for any manipulation.

In an update today, Google has added RAW support to their popular photo editing app Snapseed!

Screenshot_2015-10-29-08-38-44RAW photos are just what they sound like, the RAW data captured from the camera sensor. These are very large files, chock full of info, but often don’t look that great, and the larger file sizes make them more difficult to share. Snapseed now let’s you tweak a shot from the RAW info, then compress that into a smaller JPG file to share.

The editing tools also got a small update for more precise developing, including kelvin values for exposure and white balance.

The Snapseed update is now live in Google Play!

LG V10 Arrives on AT&T Nov. 6 with Free Battery and 200GB Micro SD Card

LG’s new monster fashion phablet is finally making its way to AT&T!

Big Blue announced pricing and availability for the LG V10, and our estimates we’re right on. The pricing will land around $700 total when using AT&T’s $0 down, monthly pricing plans. On the Next program, the V10 will cost $35 a month when financing over 20 months, andthe phone will be on store shelves November 6th.

As with the G4 launch, LG will be sweetening the deal by adding in a spare battery, a battery charger, and a 200GB Micro SD Card. The V10 already comes standard with 64GB of built in storage, so this will provide a whopping amount of space for all of the incredible high bit rate video you’re going to shoot on this monster camera.

We’ve got the full scoop on the V10, and you can catch all of our reviews and comparisons below!

LG V10 Review

LG V10 Camera Review

Continue reading “LG V10 Arrives on AT&T Nov. 6 with Free Battery and 200GB Micro SD Card”

Chattanooga Increases Fiber Internet Speeds to 10Gbps

In covering the state of broadband internet access in the United States, we’ve been seeing pockets of incredible speed increases. Usually built on projects like Google Fiber, or communities coming together to fund their own fiber roll out paid for by taxes and grants.

Chattanooga Tennessee was the first city in the United States to offer up true gigabit fiber internet to consumers and businesses. Today they become the third city in America to offer a 10 Gigabit per second data speed, following  Springfield Vermont and Salisbury North Carolina. None of these offerings are supplied by traditional cable or fiber providers like Comcast or Verizon. Continue reading “Chattanooga Increases Fiber Internet Speeds to 10Gbps”

Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for iPhone 6 and 6S

We’re taking more steps towards all communication on mobile devices moving to data.

Now users on the iPhone 6 and 6S running iOS 9 will have access to WiFi calling on AT&T. This feature will be built into post-paid plans, and wont affect any current services the consumer might be paying for.

ATT logoWiFi calling allows people to move voice calls to data networks, without managing separate VOIP phone numbers, and can makes for a handy solution in areas with poor call quality. Once this feature is enabled, text messages can also travel over WiFi.

While we’ve seen services like Google Voice in the past, AT&T has recently been making moves to incorporate more cell connection “mobility”. Supporting products like the Gear S smartwatch which could move calls back and forth between the SIM in your phone and the SIM on your wrist. Earlier this year at their developer conference, they showed off demos of people moving video calls seamlessly between PC and phone, all tied to the phone number on their plan.

Moving forward, it seems your phone number will be less a static way to call someone, and more your Login ID for richer data driven communication.

You can read the full press release below.

Continue reading “Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for iPhone 6 and 6S”