Geekazine

Cameras are getting smaller and harder to grip at times. If you are trying to get video at cool angles, it’s harder to hold the camera and keep it stabilized. That is where Cam Caddie can help. Their lightweight handles allow you to not only hold the camera in positions that keep you upright, but also add lights, microphones, monitors, and even a second camera to get a backup shot. I checked out the Scorpion EX at Vidcon. This device can hold my Canon M5 camera without issue. The Rode camera mic could actually get positioned closer to the interview subject. An amazing system and the price was too good to not purchase one ($59.99). You can get a Scorpion EX here.

If you’ve played guitar, you’ve seen other’s guitar pedal rigs. A big box filled with pedals and power cords so they can get the right sound for a song. But what if you could jam that all into one pedal? What if I said you can with an iPad, two apps, and a single pedal? You can then play your guitar and make it sound as close to the actual artist as possible. My guitar setup Simply put, I have an iPad Pro 10.5 (2017 model). Inside are two apps: Tonebridge, and Tabs. Both of these apps are made by Ultimate Guitar. Tonebridge App A simple app that turns the tone of a song into a simple pedal. Want to play “Stairway to Heaven”? Maybe some “Back in Black”, or “Purple Rain”? Just choose the pedal from the list. Each pedal allows you to adjust volume and effect....

I will be at Vidcon 2017 to not only learn, but pass on my knowledge of creating online content. As a podcaster and video creator with 10 years of social experience, I am excited to grow my presence and build the skills I still lack. Geekazine Offers Some Tips for Vidcon Here are my tips before heading out: Know the Lay of the Land – Did you know there is a Target only 4 blocks away? Great place to get supplies if you need them. Especially rain ponchos. Shuttles are the Best Transportation – Cabs and Uber can become expensive from the Airport. You can get on a Shuttle to your hotel for a lot cheaper. Keep in mind to book 24 hours in advance. Charging – I bring a lot of batteries. The one I rely on most is my Tough Tested 8,000 mAh charger. It can...

The Netgear Nighthawk router is an 802.11ad router with a lot of power. In the short while I’ve had it, I have been impressed with the connectivity, along with the fact it actually can pull more bandwidth off my Internet modem. Let’s geek out over all the pros and cons. PRO of the Nighthawk x10 The Nighthawk x10 has a WiFi speed of 7.2 Gbps at the 802.11ac and ad levels. You can connect up to 20 devices, along with 6 Ethernet ports connecting up to Gigabit Ethernet, and 1 10 Gbps LAN port. 2 USB 3.0 ports allow for external drives or other device to enhance the router’s storage and power. 4 High-Performance Active Antennas allow for a large splay so you can access the Internet from a good distance. Performance to your Internet connection might see a small boost. I go through Spectrum – 60 down,...

Customers are being empowered with data and technology that Dell and Intel are working on. From the farm, to the car, security, and more. The Realize Transformation area at Dell EMC World 2017 showed off some of the cool innovations customers can use to understand their passions and improve upon them. Transforming the Farm With IoT and analytics, you can map data in real time. They show a connected farm, watching over livestock and measuring temperature and water levels of crops. Millions of points of data coming in so you can know if a cow has wandered off, or your livestock prefers a certain area of land during hot/cold weather. The IoT BMW i8 In the next 5 years, we could be sending 4 TB of data to the cloud per day just by driving our cars. The BMW i8 at the Realize Transformation booth has a Xeon processor...

While at HPE in Houston, TX, I got to experience Codewars in action. What is CodeWars CodeWars is a yearly competition where High School students in teams of 3 solve programming issues. This is run in 9 different cities around the world on the same day (with the exception of Bangalore due to their school schedule). Each team is given around 24 problems to solve. From the simplest issues to the more complex coding problems, the students will try to solve as many as possible within a 3 hour time period. No Internet, One Computer The only resources you can bring are one computer and books – and the books are unlimited. No other peripheral or Internet use is allowed. This includes cell phones. And the computer cannot have virtual machines on it. The team’s computer is connected to an intranet, where the problems would be sent for...

I got to talk with Adam at NewBlueFX at NAB to learn about the upcoming Titler Live Broadcast updates. This update will be coming in June 2017 and will add a lot to the program. Titler Live Broadcast is a program that adds overlays (lower 3rds, title cards, etc) to video. It can be done from the computer, or through another machine using SDI out, HDMI out, or NDI support. One new feature included After Effects import support. By directly importing, you are saving a few steps to get your creations to production. Another great new feature is XML/CSV import for 3rds and titles. With sports scoring and social feeds, you will be able to set up a list and bring that content in as you go. You can use the Titler Live Broadcast on many different hardware and software video switchers, including Wirecast, Tricaster, Roland HD Mixers,...

If you are a podcaster or a music maker that wants to record on the go, the Blue Microphones Raspberry USB is a great microphone to have in your bag. It’s small, portable, and looks good if you have it set up in your shot. And it packs some technology you can only get through Blue Microphones. This USB condenser microphone has it all for the on-the-go recorder. The size is not an issue and it comes with it’s own microphone stand which can be placed upright or in low-profile mode. The Raspberry comes with a micro-USB to iOS Lightning cable and a micro-USB to USB cable. You can easily connect it to PC, Mac or iOS devices. Specs of the Blue Raspberry The Raspberry has a range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. That covers a lot of vocal ranges, and many different instruments. You won’t want...

A special episode of Morning Geeks! as we look at what got us to this new chapter in the Star Wars movies. It’s new, yet it’s old. Don’t worry. It’s spoiler free because I want to be surprised, too. I also talk about my trip to London, United Kingdom, Stonehenge, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London and much more! Morning Geeks! Episode 28 Show Notes: – Alan Tudyk is taking his K-2S0 Role Seriously – Photos from the Premiere last week – Comic of the Week: Amazing Spider-Man Revew Your Vows #2 – Amazon.com sends the first drone delivery – Mario on iOS in Super Mario: Run – Kevin Lee Co Plead steals $1 million for his Game of War profile Special video: Visiting Harry Potter Warner Bros Studios **New to This Week** – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Google nixed their Nexus line to start Pixel – a next generation Android device that focuses on display and VR. But there are a lot of other cool reasons you might get this phone. Our friends at Verizon Wireless have loaned me a phone for review, but I have not been compensated for this review. All opinions are that of Geekazine. Let’s look at the Pros and Cons, Followed by a full review of the phone. There are two types of Pixel phone out there – the 5 inch Pixel, which I have here, or the 5.5 inch Pixel XL. The Pixel contains a 2770 mAh battery, Full HD screen at 441 ppi, talk time of 26 hours, and standby time of 19 days. Both Pixel and XL have a Snapdragon 821 chip-set and Adreno 530 GPU inside. RAM is 4 GB and storage is 32 or 128...