Interview with Hanelle Culpepper - Director of Within (W/Audio)
July 30, 2010 by Doug
Filed under Interviews, Movies, News/Events, Reviews/Demos
You can venture into the realms of the unseen by tuning in this Saturday evening, July 31st, at 9 PM EDT/PDT to watch “Within“ on the Liftime Network. A thriller like “Within” is not the type of film that Lifetime fans are used to seeing, but take a view of the trailer and you can see Lifetime is getting more edgy.
Within is a supernatural thriller set in an otherwise unsuspecting town, the story of Rachel, a young girl who realizes she can see evil spirits. Rachel becomes witness to the disturbing death of her mother and though she and her father retreat to small town USA for a fresh start, she is not able to escape the visions of that dreadful day.
In her new town, Rachel befriends classmate Michelle Lowe. When Michelle’s penchant for schoolyard pranks turns from goodnatured fun to potentially deadly, Rachel suspects that her friend may be less than friendly. Rachel’s visions could be the key to stopping a series of violent attacks against the town’s children and unlocking the puzzle behind a decade-old disappearance.
Hanelle Culpepper on the Set of Within
Within’s director Hanelle M. Culpepper is an award-winning writer/director based in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Lake Forest College in suburban Chicago and earned a Master’s Degree at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication She began her film career in 1997 when her first script earned her entry into Bill and Camille Cosby’s prestigious screenwriting program for African-American writers.
Her directorial debut was The Wedding Dress, a romantic comedy short about a carefree bachelor who finds a wedding dress in his girlfriend’s closet. It premiered at the 2002 Pan American Film Festival and has won awards at multiple festivals. She directed the short film “Six and the City” in 2003 and the documentary “How to Stand In Line for Star Wars” in 2005. She has also directed episodic television with a one-hour episode of Discovery Channel’s scripted crime anthology series Guilty or Innocent in 2005.
ToT chatted with Ms. Culpepper about Within, making the film, what went on behind the scenes, why it is showing on Lifetime, her feelings about horror movies, her feelings about being a director, working as an African America in the Hollywood system, and why it was really okay to work with kids. Oh yes, you can find out if she is Mac or PC, Final Cut or Avid.
Click play to hear Hanelle Culpepper speaks with us about “Within” and next her next horror movie which will be in 3D.
Run Time 16:07
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Within stars: Mia Ford, Sammi Hanratty, Lori Heuring, Sam Jaeger, Brent Sexton and Stacey Haiduk. “Within” debuts on Lifetime on Saturday, July 31 at 9 PM.
Windows Phone 7 Series Interview and Overview (Audio)
February 24, 2010 by Doug
Filed under Cell Phones, Interviews, Reviews/Demos
Microsoft at Mobile World Congress officially launched Windows Phone 7 series. In some ways this is the long-rumored Zune phone, as you can see via its UI which is heavily Zune HD inspired. But it is more than that as you will learn when you finish this post and listen to the interview. It has the goals of putting your social networks and work life in the palm of your hand.
Click play to hear Karen Wong-Duncan, Product Manager for Windows Mobile at Microsoft, speaks with us about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series. She tells how Windows Phone 7 series works with Xbox Live, Office, Facebook, Twitter, Zune Store and when Flash will come to the OS and the design philosophy of the OS.
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Run Time 14:37
Homescreen
The home screen now features real-time content in so-called “live tiles” which replace the Start screen of past Windows Phone devices. These are not static icons like what is found on the iPhone and iPod Touch. They are customizable shortcuts to applications and the data they contain.
Hubs
Most features are organized into hubs to make it easy for users to gather information. There are six hub categories: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office. Microsoft is focusing on how people use smartphones with the aim of making an OS for smartphones, not a shoehorned desktop OS on top of hardware which can make phone calls.
Music and Video Hub - Zune Integration
Windows Phone 7 phones will offer the standard Zune HD features including the built-in radio tuner, Zune Social experience, and Zune Marketplace. You can also copy over music and video content from your PC using the Zune software.
Games Hub Xbox LIVE Integration
You can tie your phone to your Xbox LIVE profile so you can see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. Xbox Live integration will allow developers to create multiplayer games and sell them through Windows Marketplace for Mobile
People Hub
The People hub lets you see all your friends’ status updates in one stream while also letting you update your own Facebook and Windows Live status. And you can pull your favorite people from the hub and make them their own tile on your homescreen.
Pictures and Video Hub
You can share your photos from your Pictures hub with your social networks while also syncing them with your PC and the web. You can also browse through the photos of your friends, too.
Office Hub - The new MS Office Mobile
It’s not just Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and Outlook – it’s also OneNote and connections to SharePoint Workspace too.
Hardware
Multi-touch, accelerometers and fast hardware should be common across all devices, Microsoft says. A new Internet Explorer browser will use hardware-accelerated graphics, including subpixel positioning – Microsoft’s move beyond ClearType.
Historically original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) could do whatever they liked when it came to the OS and what hardware they ran it on once they had a license. Microsoft’s new model provides a minimum as to what the hardware needs to be capable of. The problem with the past models has been a less than tight integration of hardware to software which has been the key point to the Apple’s iPhone and Palm’s webOS phones - the Pre and Pixi.
Hardware Form Factors
Windows Phone 7 will have just three main form factors to choose from, the company said during the most recent episode of the Frankly Speaking podcast. The hosts, who are both Developer Evangelists for Microsoft Australia, confirmed details of the chassis program.
- Chassis 1 is now known to be limited to full-touchscreen phones that use a 1GHz processor or faster and will be the first to meet the late 2010 shipping target.
- Chassis 2 phones will combine a touchscreen with a sliding QWERTY keyboard.
- Chassis 3 isn’t explained during the podcast but is likely to involve phones with fixed-in-place keyboards
Developers, Developers, Developers
Don’t worry the focus of this blog is on end users who want to use tech to get their jobs done and make their lives more enjoyable, but without developers there are no tools and toys to let us do that. And MS knows that too.
This is why MIX10 will be so important to MS and to the people that might buy Windows Phone 7 handsets. Devs attending MIX10 next month (March 15-17 in Las Vegas) will be among the first to learn how to build applications and games for Windows Phone 7 Series. This will most likely be the next event where we learn more about the OS.
Thoughts
Microsoft seems to be taking aim at the weaknesses of the Smartphone market as it stands today. iPhone is the star of the moment but you must like what Steve Jobs likes. My wife loves having a physical keyboard, but like 2 button mice, Steve hates them, so no iPhone with a physical keyboard. Ok, Apple finally did release a 2 button mouse like 20 years after the Mac first shipped. For me this is like Steve telling you that your favorite color must be white. It is a personal preference with no correct answer but to give the customer the choice they want.
Then there is Android, which is the phone OS I have been living with the last 8 months. It is open, but being so means OEMS can change the UI a ton. This can cause some programs not to work. Plus the market place lists prices in UK pounds to me for some programs and Euros for others. I have no problem with buying software made outside the US, but my US phone on a US network should give me prices in US dollars. If I am in the UK, then the prices should be in pounds. Since there are not firm standards for the hardware, some of the cheaper phones can give off errors or sit on a screen for very long periods of times when the phone has become over tasked with running too many apps at once.
Microsoft has seemed to really focus on what the users needs when comes to a smartphone rather than just shipping a me too product or desktop OS pushed inside of a phone. Windows Phone 7 Series also marks a new chapter on how Microsoft will deal with OEMs. It appears the days open choice of design for the OEMs are over when comes to phones. Being replaced with tighter integration between hardware and software; plus Microsoft writing and supplying many of the drivers itself. All this should benefit the consumers of all smartphones. Microsoft seems to have said to it competitors “Game On!” With many events over the coming months to sell and define its vision of what a smartphone should be, it should be a fun ride to watch. We will be watching and reporting on it as they do.
Intel Demos WiMAX (With Video)
February 11, 2010 by Doug
Filed under CES 2010, Demos, Hardware, Interviews, Networking, News/Events, PC Hardware, Reviews/Demos
While the super flu is not fun, a super fast wireless network is. If you are road warrior or someone that hates having to drink a cup of Joe to access to your e-mail when out of the office or away from home, there is a new 4th generation networking standard called WiMAX which just might make your day.
Just about a month before CES got underway, Seattle’s WiMAX network turned on. In the Seattle area, Clear.com, runs the network but you can get access to it by purchasing the service from Comcast and Sprint. I found this new 4G service to work very well around Kirkland, Seattle, Mercer Island, Redmond, and Bellevue. Averaging around 5.3Mb/second for downloads and upload speed of 1.1Mb/second in some areas those speeds would hit 12Mb/second for downloads and just shy of 2.0Mb/second for uploads. In short, much better speed than you would get in almost all of the public hotspots around the area. (My tests were based on using www.speedtest.net)
In Las Vegas during CES, I found it to be a life saver. Most of the hotels and other public networks fail under the demand of all of the people needing to be on the Internet during CES. Clear’s WiMAX network did slow down a little as the show went on during the week but was it still very fast. Beside saving me extra fees for the hotel’s very slow Wi-Fi network, it also allowed me to be on the show floor more since I could file anywhere I could sit down.
Tim Sweeney of Intel Demos WiMAX
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What Makes It Different from Wi-Fi and Cell Modems
WiMAX is a cousin of the Wi-Fi which may of us use in homes and laptops today. Instead of covering an area the size of a house or an office, WiMAX is designed to cover a city or large area. This also makes it perfect for bringing broadband to rural areas where offering DSL or cable Internet to is just too costly.
In most cases you will need to get a WiMAX modem, but some of the newer laptops are getting WiMAx modems built-in just like what has been done in the past couple of years with cellular modems.
When compared to cellular Internet service, WiMAX has better speed. Plus with most of the WiMAX plans there are no bandwidth usage limits, unlike cellular where it is common for most data plans to have a 5GB usage limit and/or fees for going over 5GB a month. WiMAX gives peace of mind you going to find a huge over limit change on your bill. With the faster speed, you can do things like play high action video games and video conferencing which rarely work well on 3G cell data services.
If you are a road warrior, a real estate agent, in construction or any other type of job where getting access to your mail and other data is a must - you own it to yourself to looking in the availability of WiMAX in your area.
Disclosure: After CES Intel informed that I won an Atom based netbook from them in a contest they held in conjunction with Foursquare during CES.
Visit to the Windows 7 Demo Lounge - Parts 1, 2, 3 (W/Video)
January 4, 2010 by Doug
Filed under Demos, Interviews, PC Software, Reviews/Demos, Software
Looking back on 2009 the biggest event was the release of Windows 7. Microsoft has a winner with this release and it is the OS that anyone with a machine 3 years old or newer should upgrade to. Windows Vista was a disappointment to many and while SP 1 for Vista took care of most the problems, the damage to Vista’s image in the market place and to consumers was done. Plus, the netbook phenomena pointed out how large a footprint Vista required, which drove the netbook makers to XP.
Windows 7 has a much smaller footprint, which is why you are seeing it come pre-installed on netbooks. In short, it is easier to use than Vista or XP and supports many more of the new things we can do with computers today that were not even on the drawing board when XP was designed.
Microsoft has done a great job with ads, even 7 second ones, but as I have heard from many people, many of those ads cover the information a little too fast. As one person told me, “Ron Popeil will take 15 minutes to just show you the basics of a rotisserie oven before even showing what you can cook with it. I think Windows deserves the same.”
Well due to the hard work of a couple great PR people, we get to sit down with Brandon LeBlanc and Christopher Flores of Microsoft at the Windows Demo Lounge on Microsoft’s main Redmond campus to get a demo of many of Windows 7’s features. If you subscribe to the podcast you have seen the highlight video of the visit. Now we are going to release the in-depth videos.
These videos should be of help to you if you are thinking about going to Windows 7, if your firm is upgrading to Windows 7 or if you were lucky enough this holiday season to have received Windows 7 or a new machine with Windows 7 on it. Below are the first three parts of the series.
Part one - -Introductions and go over of the goals and philosophy of Windows 7.
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Part Two - Learn how the desktop and themes work to let you customize the look of your PC.
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Part Three - Learn about how the new taskbar, pinning and jump lists can make work with your PC more fun and easier.
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Getting Down to Business with Skype
November 6, 2008 by Doug
Filed under Interviews, Linux/Unix, Mac Software, PC Software, Reviews, Reviews/Demos, Software, Web Sites
With the economy today people are looking for ways to save money while strengthening their relationships with customers, partners and vendors. Communication is what keeps relationships happy and productive but maintaining them can raise costs when it comes to traditional phone service. There are telephone replacement services based on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) like Vonage but most of those services just limit you to voice communications. What if you also want to have IM (Instant Messaging), video conferencing or the option of getting a phone number outside your local area or even in another nation? For the big boys, there are PBX services from Microsoft and Cisco that can address those needs but they are out of the price range for most home, small or medium size businesses. I have found Skype to be a solution that can level the playing field and address many communication needs.
Click play to hear Mark McKinney, Vice President of LuraTech, tell us how LuraTech uses Skype everyday to save money and improve communications with clients, partners and employees.
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Run Time 10:56
What is Skype?
Skype is technically a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service that is designed for free computer-to-computer communication to anywhere in the world over the Internet. It also has instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing services. It is a free download for the Mac, Linux and Windows. You can communicate across platforms with IM, voice, video and file transfers. There are some add-ons for the Windows version, which are not available on the Mac or Linux platforms at this time.
For voice all you need is a microphone and headset connected to your computer to start talking. All computer-to-computer calls are free, whether they are IM, voice, video or even conference calls.
SkypeIn/SkypeOut …Your Mom Can Still Call You With Her Rotary Phone
The computer-to-computer communication is great but Skype has fee-based services to let you call landlines and cell phones too. Plus, you can even get telephone number(s) for people to call you while you are on Skype from traditional phones.
SkypeIn is the service to have a phone number attached to your Skype account. You just need to buy one or more phone numbers, which will be associated with your Skype user account. Then you can give the number(s) just like any other number.
This is very useful if you want to have a phone number in another area code or even another nation. I could have never afforded the cost of having a London phone number for people in the UK to call me at their local rates before Skype. Plus, if you are hunting down your dream job outside the area code you live in, it can be very useful to have “local” number for them to contact you at.
SkypeIn comes with free voicemail in the US, so people can leave you a message when you are offline.
SkypeOut lets you call landlines and cell phones. Skype Credits (pay as you go) are the first method of payment for outgoing calls which are billed at a per minute rate based on the country you are calling. You can buy Skype Credits in either $10 or $25 blocks. Skype Credits can also be used for SMS (text messages) and other Skype services. I have found many times that when you need to send an SMS to an international cell number, Skype can be cheaper than using your cell phone.
Skype Credit remains active for 180 days after your last use of a product or feature that uses those credits.
The other option is to pay a monthly subscription. Unlike most cell phones you get in the US, this does not require a long-term contract. For $2.95 a month there is a plan for unlimited calls to landlines and cell phones in the US and Canada. The Unlimited World plan at $9.95 a month gives unlimited calls to landlines in 36 countries. These monthly plans are also a great way to reduce your cell bill, since many coffee shops and hotels now have the broadband Internet you need to use Skype for voice calls.
No Emergency Calls With Skype.
Please know that Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone when it comes to emergency services calling, such as 911.
You Can Even Make Calls Without a Computer
You can still use Skype even when your computer is off. Belkin’s Desktop Internet Phone for Skype allows you to make calls to other Skype users without a computer. It also allows you to call people who use traditional phone systems via your Skype SkypeOut. Just plug the phone into your network via an Ethernet cable.
Netgear’s WiFi Phone let you do the same via a WiFi G and B networks. It supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 WiFi security. It can also be used on the Cloud and T-Mobile HotSpots.
There is a special version of Skype for Windows Smartphone or Windows Mobile. I recommend an unlimited data plan and you will need a 3G network or access to WiFi to use the voice features of Skype. Also, some carriers do block VoIP on their 3G networks.
You can even use Skype for voice calls on the latest version of the Sony PSP (2000 series) hand held gaming system.
Video, When Text and Voice are Not Enough
The ability to cut travel by having face-to-face meetings via video conferencing is a big money saver. Just as Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, did an interview with Oprah via Skype rather than being on the set in Chicago.
With the latest release of Skype for Windows you can get very high quality if you have Core Duo 2 or a similarly fast processor, a high-bandwidth internet connection (384 kbps and above recommend by Skype), and a Logitech Quickcam Pro. I saw this in action for the first time back in January at CES, it was the first time I could hold a biz card to a camera and have someone else read it in a video conference using consumer level gear.
Security and Privacy
Skype has always had encryption for the IMs, voice calls and file transfers based on the industry standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Skype uses 256-bit AES, which is used by U.S. Government organizations to protect sensitive information.
You may have seen some reports in the media about a security and privacy breach for Skype. That was not Skype but Skype’s Chinese partner, TOM. TOM provides a version of the product that meets China’s laws. The Chinese government has been monitoring communications in and out of the country for many years. Not just Skype but e-mail, cell phones, etc.
The take away is Skype-to-Skype communications are secure and private as AES. If the AES is ever broken, Skype will not be the only company to have issues; it is a widely used standard.
But if one or more parties are using the co-branded TOM-Skype client software, your security and privacy may be at risk due to Chinese laws. You can only be as strong as your weakest link. Even if you have an IM or call with someone in China using the co-branded TOM-Skype client software, the privacy concern is only for that call or IM. Once you are back to Skype to Skype communications you are back to full strength.
You can read the Skype president’s addresses on the Chinese privacy breach here.
Skype Means Business
I was first introduced to Skype by colleague from the UK, way before you could buy Skype credits in dollars, back then it was just Euros. This was long before eBay bought the company. While it has changed a great deal since those days, a big change this year has been way Skype has been getting positioned more and more to the business audience.
The Skype for Windows-Business Version makes it easier to deploy and manage Skype within larger business networks. This version uses the Windows Installer (commonly known as MSI), which makes it easier for your Windows network admin deploy Skype and set Windows’ group policies on to multiple machines.
Then there are Skype toolbars for Internet Explorer, Outlook and Microsoft Office to make it easier to make calls or send SMS messages. With the Office toolbar you can see when the author of a document is online and communicate with them. You can even send the file you are currently working on to your contacts.
The Business Control Panel is a free web tool that helps you buy and allocate calling credit to phones and mobiles, online numbers, and access other useful paid features across multiple Skype accounts your business may have.
One of the most exciting developments is the beta version of Skype For Asterisk, which will allow small and mid-sized businesses to integrate Skype functionality into Digium’s Asterisk PBX software. If you’re an Asterisk user, you’ll be able to make, receive and transfer Skype calls from your Asterisk phone. If you are thinking about updating your PBX, this is something to watch, it could be a game changer. You can read more about what this means at Stefan Öberg’s blog. He is vice president and general manager for Skype Telecom and Skype for Business.
There is more to learn about Skype and they have a great web site from which you can learn about the features not covered here. The good thing about Skype is you can start using for free and grow your usage as you get more familiar with it. A Skype ID is something every smart professional should have on his or her business card.
Microsoft Expands The Ultimate Steal Program (With Audio)
September 12, 2008 by Doug
Filed under Interviews, PC Software, Reviews/Demos, Software
In the audio interview below, Naman Khan tells us about the The Ultimate Steal Program, which lets eligible students buy a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95.
Mr. Khan, a Microsoft marketing manager in the Information Worker Group, not only goes over how the program works but talks about the some of the features of the programs in the office suite are particularly useful for students.
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Run Time 8:26
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If you don’t know, Office Ultimate 2007 includes the entire Microsoft Office toolset. So students that buy it will get the following: Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Access 2007, Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, Office OneNote 2007, Office Groove 2007 and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007.
- Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade The most comprehensive edition of Windows Vista Cost $64.95
- Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 Instead of static pictures Visio lets you create data-connected diagrams that display data including architectural plans, engineering schematics, facilities management, and database modeling. Cost $59.95
- Microsoft Office Language Pack Office Language Packs help multilingual students that routinely create or edit documents in different languages, by providing the flexibility of switching the entire user experience – including menus, help, or proofing tools such as spell checker, dictionary and thesaurus – to any of 37 different languages. Cost $9.95 each.
To be eligible for The Ultimate Steal, students must be enrolled in an academic institution and carry at least a 0.5 course credit. Students can find program details and see if they are eligible at http://www.TheUltimateSteal.com. The offer will be available to students throughout the academic school year.