Video Edit's project editing screen

Enter Video Edit, an application by Winnipeg developers DHI Inc. Video Edit allows you to easily cut together multiple clips, trim them inside the application, and render them to a new clip, which you can then send to YouTube, email, post on a blog, Facebook, Twitter et cetera.

I got an early look at Video Edit and my experience with the application was good. The editing was quick, easy and the rendering time was fast, as promised. I found only a few shortcomings, which I’m sure will be addressed in later versions of the app.

• You can’t delete project files. Creating a project is easy enough, but when you’re finished rendering it, if there’s no further edits or additions to make, you’d think removing it from the project list would be an option. Not so.
• While every other part of the application operates in either portrait or landscape mode, the Camera Roll screen forces portrait mode.
• Uploading clips to YouTube or posting them to other sites must be done outside the application in the camera roll, after you’ve rendered the clip. I’d like to see an option to upload it inside the application directly following the render.

Video Edit employs help overlays to get you started. It's so simple you barely need them.

But that’s it – just three small gripes on an otherwise great application that fills a much-needed gap in the iPhone’s functionality.

For more info on Video Edit visit www.videoeditapp.com. To be released June 2010.

Every time Facebook comes out with a redesign of their website, cries from the huddled masses decree it to be the worst atrocity since Snooki was punched in the face.

Well, this time around I’m taking a preemptive strike. I’m calling out all of you who will undoubtedly whine and cry about the impending update to Facebook; start groups petitioning the admins to allow you to go back in time; and eventually come into the present with the rest of us kicking and screaming.  No matter what you do, it’s going to happen anyway, so I’m attempting to save you a lot of the time and effort you’ll waste railing against something you can’t change. Just suck it up.

The fact of the matter is Facebook is free for all and that means, although they’re incredibly receptive to the feedback of their users, they can pretty much do whatever they want with the site.

I believe web developers generally have the best interest of users at heart. They spend hours looking at research about how people use their sites so they can engineer better ways for you to interact. Faster ways. More efficient ways.

That’s a good thing. So cry if you like, but it’s happening.

The methods are myriad – Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, MySpace, and countless mobile applications like BrightKite et cetera. All these places create a torrent of useful information about someone, and it’s getting easier and easier to aggregate it, to build a complete picture of someone’s personality, buying habits, and so on.

The point is to take something that would normally only give you static information and make it dynamic. It’s been a truth of advertising since day one that increased relevance equals increased results. But now that people are freely offering demographic, psychographic and geographic information about themselves on such a granular level by participating in the social web, the possibilities for targeting become boundless.

For example, there’s a simple restaurant finder app for iPhone out there that reads GPS information from your phone to figure out the closest restaurants to your current location. It then allows you to search through them by category, by critics’ ratings and by users’ ratings. It will show you where your friends ate, what they said about that particular restaurant and their scores based on food quality, quality of service and ambiance. Who do you trust more? A recognized food critic or your roommate from college? Now it doesn’t matter. You can get both of them side-by-side.

And there are literally thousands upon thousands of other apps just as useful out there or being developed that play upon that same sense of community.

Some argue that the collection and aggregation of all these little bits of data about someone does not necessarily make a whole picture of them, or that ethically it’s not right to build profiles based on this information. Others say that if they’re freely offering it, knowing the terms of service of all the sites they are using, that their right to the privacy of that information is given up.

There’s a lot to talk about there. Think about the millions of people who signed on to CNN’s website during the Michael Jackson memorial on Tuesday to watch the event live while updating their Facebook status, thanks to some incredibly smart integration on part of CNN. Facebook statuses were updated in record numbers while the memorial was being broadcast, which is good news for any advertisers on Facebook and great news for CNN, as they’re now able to include people on the conversation – giving a glimpse of the collective consciousness of a nation while something major is happening. The zeitgeist is getting easier and easier to see, thanks to tools like that.

I’ve been attempting to ramp up some hype about my band’s new album, which we’ll be recording in just a few short weeks. In order to do so, I decided that it was time I made the rounds with our first record one more time.

As it happens, another band we’ve played with, and that I really like called Run The Red Light (formerly Retrograde), uses a website called Bandcamp to promote their album online. It’s a social media-friendly, simple-to-set up solution to sell your music online and make it easy for the fans to download it.

Their pages have a nice clean design that focuses your attention on the cover art and their feature-rich flash music player.

You can choose fixed prices for each album and track, or just let the customer decide what they think they should pay for your music (a la Radiohead). They also provide you with handy tools like embed codes for players, so you can easily share on blogs and other websites. Sweet, huh? This is one of the smartest music websites I’ve seen in a while. I’m still waiting on the relaunch of CDBaby.com, but until then, I’m happy with Bandcamp.

But one that I recently discovered that really encapsulates the spirit of the platform is Twikini, a Twitter client for Windows Mobile. It supports direct messages, GPS location posting, twitpic, themes and much more. It is simply a joy to use.

I’ve been a Windows Mobile user since November and I can tell you there hasn’t been a good Twitter app for this platform until Twikini came around.

Better yet, it’s as cheap as a trip to Starbucks – just $4.95 USD to snatch it up, or you can do as I’m doing right now, and write a post about it on your blog and get it for free! Sweet, huh? A very smart promotions and marketing move on part of the software makers.

Logic + Emotion by David Armano

David Armano is the VP of Experience Design at Critical Mass, the digital advertising agency I had the pleasure of working for this summer in Calgary.

Honestly, his job title matters very little to me. What matters to me about this dude is that he’s one of those people online who just ‘gets’ it. And it’s not just a digital thing. Armano has a special talent for linking everyday ideas, concepts and thoughts with the digital realm, and doing it visually, too. And that’s what makes him a leader in his chosen vocation.

He believes in the power of social media – because he knows that it’s not technology that makes it powerful. It’s people – real people, caring people, influential people, inspiring people – that make great things happen in the digital sphere.

And he’s got a big ol’ shining example of the good that can come from wielding such power. He recently gave a second chance to a family friend in need of shelter by raising $16,000 (most of it in little over 24 hours) to help her and her 3 children find a new place to live.  See, folks? Twitter’s not just for massaging your own ego or posting links to videos of simians. There are altruistic outcomes.

Fuck You, Penguin by Anonymous

This one sells itself. An anonymous (and hilarious) writer takes cute animals down a peg. Read it. Follow it. Love it.

Copyblogger by Brian Clark + contributors

If ever you’re wondering, “hey, I wonder if someone out there has some advice on (topic x) when it comes to writing online” – this is the blog for you. Some of the best copywriters in the digital sphere post here, offering sage advice and guides to writing great copy on the web.

Wine Library TV by Gary Vaynerchuck

Oh, Gary Vay-ner-chuck. He’s the enigmatic and enthusiastic host of a daily video blog on wine tasting, and one of the cleverest people on the web when it comes to using social media to create and maintain a following. It’s his unique and oft-mad-hatterish personality that draws you in, and his propensity to stay in touch with his people (and his tweeple) is what makes him authentic and keeps people coming back to his site.

not that vintage by Allison Forzley

Allison and I worked together for a short time at Citytv last January, when I interned there as part of my coursework in school. I discovered her blog last week when she posted the link on her facebook page and was happily surprised to find she is into all sorts of neat interior design stuff and pop culture.

It’s not a big name with big influence. It’s not a total game-changer. And it’s not one that I need to read every day. It’s a cross-section of a life. It’s real. And that is why I like it. Well done, Ally.

And now I open the floor – what are your faves (industry-related or otherwise)? What makes them near and dear to you?

A Twitter.. is that some kinda rare bird?

I’ve seen so much buzz over social media over the past year, and all the different ways it can be used to market products. Sites and services like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg and Delicious have brought a world of new possibilities for advertisers and users online, making the web a place inclusive of user content and truly encouraged a torrent of activity inside these communities.

Now, as content on these sites manages to make its way to so many other platforms through RSS and other content-pushing protocols, it appears that making the user a part of the web experience is a concept as ubiquitous as e-mail was 5 (or even 10) years ago.

So why aren’t more companies investing in social media?

The Crux

I think the real crux is in the demographics. It’s no secret that the baby-boomer generation is largely computer illiterate not as experienced in the digital world as their successors. Pundits and marketers have even gone so far as to distinguish our current generations’ “digital natives” – those who were born immersed in technology – from “digital immigrants” – those who came to know it later in life. It’s sort of like French immersion, except you don’t really have to put the kids in special schools, they just learn it all on their own.

Some people feel the older generations should “learn to adapt or die”. I don’t see it to be such a cutthroat situation. I’m perfectly happy seeing all those mom-and-pop operations out there doing what they’ve done since 30 years ago and having business bounce along merrily as it always has. Of course if they had some business-savvy digital natives on their side, they could probably run more efficiently, market to people they had never dreamed of in the past and basically be better citizens in the business community.

Stating the Obvious

Researchers of trends in social media have found a surprising an obvious link between age and level of involvement in online communities. They distinguish between those who are simply there to peruse the information already provided and those who are active contributors to a pool of knowledge or art, and all levels of involvement in between.

What it means for those of you who are planning campaigns is that if you’re planning on pitching a campaign for a retirement home, funeral service arranger, luxury sailboat vendor or anything else that costs more than an iPod, chances are social media isn’t where you want to put all your eggs.

Leveraging Social Media for Boomers.

That being said, there is a way to leverage traditional media with emerging tech – consider a little Twitter account that tweets whenever there’s a sale on at a retail store, in conjunction with the radio or TV ads. It takes only a little time to maintain, it’s an immediate score for customers who are looking for the most updates, and you can promote it through your traditional channels.

What does it mean for the client?

• better reach and higher frequency than a traditional media buy;
• a qualified list of brand loyalists (those who are following your twitter account);
• the ability for a target audience to react / respond to your message.

There are tons of cool things you can do with social media apps like Twitter. And the best part about  – it’s free. All it takes is time.