Gizmodo: plug-ins

RollingShutter Reminds Us That While Jello Wiggles, Videos Should Not

Rosa Golijan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:40:00 EDT

What's wrong with that video from last night? Things seems a bit skewed, distorted, and wiggly-jiggly. No, I'm not focused on that redhead in the tiny pink shirt, I'm talking about a fixable issue with CMOS-based video cameras.

RollingShutter, a plug-in for After Effects and Nuke, recently came to our attention, not because it's a good plug-in (although it is), but because it brings up a flaw with CMOS sensors: Video cameras using CMOS sensors tend to suffer from a major annoyance in the form of skewing anytime the camera is shifted or a fast-moving object flies through the frame. This is mainly due to the line-by-line top-to-bottom scanning done by these cameras and it will make your videos look like a mild acid trip.

The good news is that this pesky issue can be corrected post-production with tools such as RollingShutter. What RollingShutter does is use Local Motion Technology to correct that unsightly jiggling. This means that rather than globally correcting entire frames, the plug-in corrects individual parts of the images and prevents accidental introduction of new distortion.

Your camera won't learn to focus on the fly all of the sudden, but the difference in the before and after clips in the video is pretty huge and almost makes RollingShutters $500 price tag an easier pill to swallow for those who only want their jello to wiggle and jiggle. [The Foundry via badrobot]

Invisible Hand Plug-In Points Out Better Deals

Mark Wilson — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:40:00 EDT

I try to keep my FireFox plug-ins streamlined, but after testing Invisible Hand only this morning, I'm addicted to its unobtrusive, deal-finding prowess.

Say you want to buy a new Sharp LCD. You pick out a model on Amazon or Best Buy, and while you're inspecting the product page, a small drop-down may inform you that Buy.com (or one of 50 other comparison stores) has the television for 1% cheaper than where you were shopping.

It's not the only plug-in of its kind, and I was able to beat that tested deal pictured above by searching myself, but the visually quiet interface may keep you from uninstalling the thing by the end of the week.

As an Amazon addict (on small purchases), I've basically sold my soul for convenience, accepting that 5 minutes of googling may have saved me 20 cents. But having the comparison shopping cruising in the background...we'll see whether or not I reassess that position (whether I'm cheaper than I am lazy). [Invisible Hand via Red Ferret via LifeHacker]

Chinese Car Maker Begins Selling the F3DM, the World's First Mass Produced, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle

Adrian Covert — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:20:00 EST

I never expected the world's first mass produced, plug-in hybrid car to pop up for sale in China, mecca of e-waste and air pollution. But BYD Auto did just that with the F3DM.

According to the Grist, the F3 Dual Mode began selling this week with a $22,000 price tag, aimed initially at the Chinese government agencies and other corporate entities. The hybrid plugs into any normal wall outlet, and has a range of 60 miles on a full charge. According to the New York Times, it charges fully in 7 hours, and at special stations, can be charged halfway in 10 minutes.Keeping in the spirit of a hybrid, it also has a 1.0 liter gas engine that is used to recharge the batteries when a power outlet isn't nearby.

While numerous other car makers have announced plans to sell a plug-in hybrid, none have actually brought one to market, with the nearest release date not until 2010. Worth noting is that BYD started in 1995 manufacturing cellphone batteries until they acquired a bankrupt auto company in 2003. Now they have Warren Buffet as a 10% shareholder in the company. [Grist via NYT]

Browse a Censored Web Through the China Channel FireFox Plugin

Mark Wilson — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EDT

It's no secret that the Chinese government censors web content, but what's it like to actually be a citizen trapped inside the Great Firewall of China? A new FireFox plugin called China Channel can show you. It reroutes your IP through China, allowing you to look like any other digital Chinese citizen from anywhere in the world. Click on a banned site and BAM! You lose your browsing privileges for 15 minutes. But luckily, in this version, you can just reopen the browser with a newly assigned IP. To see an example clip that walks you through installation and browsing, read on.

Now if only the Chinese government could censor that damn song... [China Channel via MAKE]

iPhone Firmware 2.0 to Have YouTube Plugin for Safari, Says BGR

Haroon Malik — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:30:00 EDT

BGR is claiming iPhone firmware 2.0 will provide a YouTube plugin for MobileSafari.app. They aren't citing their source, but they're pretty confident in their assertion:

"You heard it here first, people! The latest version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware that was just seeded to developers has a YouTube plugin for MobileSafari.app"

BGR tends to be a solid source, but we cannot confirm this to be true without some more evidence. Nonetheless, if true, YouTube video playback from within Safari will be possible on the iPhone, without launching a separate application for the content. That sure would make surfing the web and viewing content a helluva lot easier; here's hoping BGR is bang on with this one.

Boy Genius also goes onto suggest that this may be indicative of some form of native Flash support, but we just can't raise your hopes like that. It wouldn't be right. [BGR; Thanks, Ted B. Image via Limited Edition iPhone]

Opera's Flash-Replacement For Cellphones

Jason Chen — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:30:51 EDT

[UPDATE: This ain't no Flash plugin. Read on.] It's no secret that our gold standard for mobile browsers is full Youtube support. Apparently, that ain't happening because Flash is a CPU and mem hog. So opera is working on a replacement plug in so phones can get in on some mobile video plugin action.

The new technology will add video capability directly into the Web browser, so that users can see and play back video content directly in Opera. As of yet, Opera has not commented on whether or not the new native playback ability for Opera Mobile will be able to play existing Flash content.

Sounds good, except the power of Flash is that everyone uses it, market penetration in browsers is sky high, and what good is yet another browser, esp if its specific to mobile phones?

The right thing to do is for Adobe to develop a server side piece of software that can downscale flash content for Mobile devices, depending on browser, connection, etc. They could get rich, and I can get YouTube on my cellphone browser. Unless YouTube is already thinking about this stuff in transcoding to H.264. – Jason Chen, fact checked by Brian Lam

Infoworld [via Ars Technica]