Just as the iPod put a thousand songs in your pocket, the iPhone has given every user a superb snapper that they can take everywhere they go. 

Over the near-20 years it’s been around, the iPhone has packed in innumerable photographic improvements that have seen it go from strength to strength. No single device has changed the way people take photography more than the smartphone, and no smartphone line has pushed photography further than the iPhone.

Here, we’re going to look back at the ten most important changes to the iPhone camera setup of all time, from video recording to periscope lenses.

Video is here to stay

You might remember the iPhone 3GS for its emphasis on speedy performance, but its camera improvements were just as important, and perhaps the most significant was the addition of video recording. Sure, it’s nothing compared to what we have these days – 3MP of VGA video recorded at 30fps feels practically prehistoric now – but it opened up a whole new way to use the iPhone. It meant the camera wasn’t just for snapping photos: videos could join the party too. It was a humble beginning, but it made the iPhone a much more capable device.

Focus on the future

Alongside video recording, the iPhone 3GS brought another significant new feature: autofocus. All you had to do was tap the area of the image you wanted the camera to focus on and the iPhone would do the rest. As well as adjusting the focus, this control would also tweak the image’s light levels, ensuring the in-focus area was properly exposed. Apple has always been good at simplifying controls to make complex actions much more palatable, and the addition of autofocus was a big step forward in this area.

The selfie is born

These days, taking a selfie is an everyday occurrence for iPhone users the world over. But it wasn’t always that way – in fact, you’re only able to take what we'd consider a real selfie in the first place thanks to the iPhone 4. This was the first iPhone to feature a front-facing camera, and just as the introduction of video recording changed the way the iPhone’s camera was used, so too did the selfie lens. Without it, perhaps there would be no selfie sticks, no Snapchat, and no Memojis (although whether all that would be a good thing depends on your outlook).

4K captures the imagination

In the quest for ever-sharper videos, 4K has often been held up as the holy grail for consumer phone cameras. In the iPhone’s case, this giant leap was made back in 2015 with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. As well as shooting 4K video, you could save still images from the footage. The only drawback? The 4K footage chewed through the iPhone’s storage – a 16GB iPhone 6s would have its storage completely filled by just 40 minutes of 4K video.

Doubling up on lenses

For many years, iPhone cameras were held back by a major limitation: they only had one lens. That all changed with the introduction of the iPhone 7 Plus. In adding a second lens, it gave users far more flexibility over how they shot images and videos. That extra snapper has the added distinction of being the first optical zoom lens in an iPhone, being capable of 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom. With a combination of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, the iPhone took a solid step towards the high-end capabilities Apple fans are used to these days.

A perfect portrait

Apple enabled the iPhone to further mimic far more expensive cameras with the arrival of Portrait mode in the iPhone 7 Plus. This feature artfully blurs the background of your photos, just as DSLR cameras use depth of field for the same purpose. While it was only available for the rear cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus, Portrait mode came to the selfie camera the next year in the iPhone X. That phone – and the iPhone 8 Plus – also brought Portrait Lighting effects, which replicated popular studio lighting techniques to help your photos pop even more.

Face the music

Not every momentous camera improvement revolved around photos and videos. Some, like the iPhone X’s Face ID, used the camera system in new and ingenious ways. Before Face ID, you either had to unlock your iPhone using Touch ID or a passcode. Once Face ID arrived, there was no going back – it was faster, more reliable and much more secure. In fact, Apple claimed its chances of being fooled were one in a million (compared to Touch ID’s far leakier one in 50,000). Enabled by a complex array of scanners and sensors, Face ID showed just how good Apple’s cameras had become.

Get the big picture

The iPhone 7 Plus from 2016 may have been the first iPhone with a dual-lens camera, but it took until 2019’s iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max for Apple to add another shooter to the picture. The combination of a wide, ultra-wide and telephoto lens was called “transformative” by Apple, and we’re inclined to agree. It meant you could zoom out beyond the initial starting point for the first time, opening the door to wide-angle shots and allowing you to fit far more into the frame. It was a milestone moment for anyone who wanted to take photography on their iPhone a little more seriously.

Ramping up the resolution

For years, one of the biggest pain points for iPhone photographers was their cameras’ resolution. Apple upped things from 8MP to 12MP in 2015, but then kept things that way for eight years, by which point the complaints were hard to ignore. Fortunately, Apple changed that with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, which quadrupled the resolution to 48MP – and the difference was night and day. The following year Apple brought it to the entire iPhone 15 range, including the non-Pro models.

Zoom in on the details

Things haven’t slowed down in recent years. Over time, Apple has been adding features more often associated with DSLRs than phones to its iPhone range, and we saw that continue with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Both phones packed in what Apple said was “the equivalent of seven pro lenses” that imitated lenses of varying focal lengths. The iPhone 15 Pro Max went further by including a periscope lens that could zoom in up to 5x – the highest optical zoom rating of any iPhone so far. With all that included, who needs a DSLR? We compared the 15 Pro Max to a DSLR to find out.

This feature is part of iPhone Photography Week 2024. Expect new posts to appear daily, focused on making your photos shot with iPhone better than ever before.

Share your photos with iMore on X (Twitter) using #iMorePhotographyWeek

Picture-in-picture (PiP) isn't a new concept: It's existed on television and computer displays for years to let you view multiple items simultaneously. On the iPad, picture-in-picture lets you watch video from an app or the web while working in other programs.

Which iPad models support picture-in-picture video?

Picture-in-Picture mode is available on all of the current best iPad models, of course, but it also supports models from a few generations back. The full list includes the iPad Pro (all models), iPad (5th generation and later), iPad Air 2 and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.

Note: Developers need to enable PiP support in their apps or web services in order for it to work. If you don't see the PiP button on your favorite app or website, let the developer know you want it.

How to enter picture-in-picture mode on iPad

1. Tap the video you're watching.
2. Tap the picture-in-picture button in one of the corners of the video window.

iPad picture-in-picture mode will also launch automatically if you return to the Home screen from a PiP-enabled app while video is playing. (That's how you can put FaceTime into PiP mode, for example).

How to adjust the picture-in-picture window on the iPad

Picture-in-picture video defaults to roughly quarter-screen size (with amble transparent border) and the lower left-hand side of the display, but you can easily resize and reposition it.

1. Pinch two fingers together to shrink the PiP window.
2. Spread two fingers apart on the window to expand the PiP window.

3. To reposition it, you simply drag the window with one finger.

If you need to use your full iPad screen for something else but don't want to stop listening to the video's audio, instead of closing the picture-in-picture window, you can simply tuck it away for a time.

1. Drag the PiP window all the way to the left or right of the screen.
2. Tap the PiP window tray to bring the window back out onto the screen.

How to interact with the picture-in-picture window

In addition to the multitouch controls, there are various controls on the PiP pane itself that show when you tap the window:

• Return to app, which has two rectangles and an arrow; tapping it will return the video to its original app and restore the video to full screen.
• Playback controls, including play/pause and 15-second skip functions.
• Close, which will end video playback and close the PiP window.

How to disable picture-in-picture video on iPad

Since iPad picture-in-picture mode starts automatically when you leave an app during playback, it may not be ideal in all situations. Fortunately, Apple gives you a way to disable that within your device's settings.

1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
2. Tap on General if you aren't already in the General tab.

3. Tap on Picture in Picture.
4. Toggle Start PiP Picture to the gray OFF position.

This way, you'll only experience PiP video when you manually choose to do so. To re-enable automatic PiP video, simply repeat the process but turn that last toggle ON (green) instead of OFF.

More multitasking

Picture-in-Picture is a neat aspect of iPad multitasking that allows you to enjoy video content while getting something else done. It's perfect for quickly looking something up without interrupting your movie or for watching some live sports coverage while getting some work done.

Updated March 2022: Updated for iPadOS 15.

Why do you need to make iPhone audio better? After all, the iPhone makes it easy to take and edit videos. But that doesn't mean that getting great audio is as simple as pointing and shooting. The microphone on newer iPhone models isn't too shabby at close distances, but when you're trying to film in a crowded room or the great outdoors, it's not quite enough. Here are some tips to avoid sub-par sound when shooting iPhone video, starting with great equipment like the RØDE Microphones VideoMic Me-L Microphone.

Best overall: RØDE Microphones VideoMic Me-L Microphone

RØDE's VideoMic Me-L is perfect for when you want to make iPhone audio better. It couldn't be simpler; just plug it directly into your iPhone's Lightning port and go. The microphone's directionality reduces surrounding noises. Monitor your audio as you shoot and playback your video via headphones plugged into the 3.5mm jack. You also get a furry windshield to block wind sounds and a mic clip to secure the microphone.

Plug this mic directly into your iPhone's Lightning port and hear an instant improvement in your recordings.

Most versatile: Zoom iQ6

Record your surroundings effortlessly with this highly-rated, well-made microphone. This mic can adjust from 90 to 120 degrees, making it ideal for recording your surroundings in a variety of different weather conditions and environments. The stereo X/Y recording design enables you to capture a variety of sounds from several distances. Plus, the precise gain wheel lets you easily tweak and adjust your volume without having to unlock your phone and potentially mess up your recording. Use Zoom's proprietary app to smoothly and professionally record your audio.

Easily connect and start recording some stellar sound via your iPhone's Lightning port with this flexible mic.

Budget option: Movo PM10

If you want an affordable, portable, omnidirectional microphone for your iPhone, then take a gander at the convenient Movo PM10. It can easily be clipped onto a variety of clothing or surfaces and comes with a portable travel case, windshield, and lapel clip. This highly portable and easy-to-use microphone needs to have a Lightning to headphone jack adapter to use it with newer iPhones. Once you have the microphone set up, you'll be able to record some crystal clear vocals and sounds.

The Movo PM10 is a small, well-priced lavalier microphone that can be clipped onto your clothing.

Best deluxe microphone: Shure MV88+ Video Kit with Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone

If it fits into your budget, consider the outstanding Shure MV88+ Video Kit with Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone. Get excellent sound quality when you pop this mic into your iPhone's Lightning port. Multiple stereo width and Polar pattern options give you ultimate flexibility.

It's Apple MFi-certified and is fully compatible with the native iOS camera app, GarageBand, and much more. The kit that comes with this mic includes a Manfrotto® PIXI tripod, phone clamp, and mount, plus iOS and USB-C cables, so you're always connected. The built-in headphone output lets you monitor your audio in real-time.

This top-notch microphone comes with a tripod and everything else you need for pro recording on your iPhone.

Best mobile kit: Sennheiser MKE 200 Mobile Kit

The Sennheiser MKE 200 Mobile Kit includes a MKE 200 Directional Camera Microphone, a Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod, Sennheiser Smartphone Clamp, fuzzy windshield, and two cables. One of the cables plugs into a smartphone while the other plugs into a DSLR camera. If you're using a newer iPhone, you'll need a headphone jack to Lightning port adapter to connect the cable.

The Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod is both a tabletop tripod and a small "selfie stick" when you pull the legs together. The Sennheiser Smartphone Clamp mounts securely onto the tripod (or any standard tripod; you're not limited to the Manfrotto.) Simply pull the clamp open to insert your iPhone. The top of the clamp has a cold-shoe mount so you can attach the microphone.

If you're creating content on your iPhone and want to take your videography to the next level without a lot of equipment, this is a kit to consider. The microphone enhances audio quality. The Sennheiser MKE 200 Mobile Kit is easy to set up and use and doesn't require any battery power.

Get a top-notch microphone, a tabletop tripod, and more.

Additional accessories

Best pop screen: Facmogu Desktop Pop Shield

Having a reliable and convenient pop shield in your recording arsenal is a terrific idea, especially if you're someone who wants to record interviews with your iPhone. The Facmogu Desktop Pop Shield is a tripod with a pop shield that you can insert your small microphone into. The shield can be adjusted 360 degrees and can bend to suit a variety of different microphones. It's designed with a double layer of mesh for smoother recording capabilities.

The Facmogu Desktop Pop Shield is easy to set up with a tripod design and adjustable pop shield.

Best for outdoors: Hisonic Microphone Windscreens

If you're recording outside, the wind can be distracting and often ruin a recording. One thing that will keep your sound clear and free of distracting noises is a good windshield. Many microphones come with a windshield. But if yours doesn't, or the windshield gets lost or deteriorates, you'll need another one.

The Hisonic Microphone Windscreens come in a five-pack of colorful windshields that slip over the top of your portable microphone to keep your sound smooth and consistent. Using one of these will better protect your microphone while you're recording and allow for cleaner, smoother sound in windy environments.

With the Hisonic Microphone Windscreens, you can minimize the noise clutter for a smoother, sharper sound.

Best portable sound booth: Monoprice Microphone Isolation Shield

In certain recording situations, you may find a sound booth to be helpful. Monoprice Microphone Isolation Shield has acoustic foam on the front and a vented metal plate back, and the dual clamp mount attaches to mic stands or booms up to 1.25 inches in diameter.

It has a standard 3/8-inch microphone threaded mount and includes a 3/8- to 5/8-inch thread adapter. All tools needed for assembly and mounting are included. Folding sides give you different angles to work with or can be folded all the way in for storage.

The acoustic foam and vented metal back can help you get even better sound quality.

Best universal table stand: *InnoGear Upgraded Adjustable Desktop Microphone Stand *

Regardless of which microphone you have, if you need a tabletop stand with no bells or whistles, InnoGear has you covered. The weighted base won't let your mic tip over, and the non-slip pads underneath prevent scratches. Rather than a snap-in clasp that can loosen over time, this one enables you to screw in your microphone. It comes with 3/8-inch female to 5/8-inch male screws for multi-purpose use. You can adjust the height from 10.6 to 15.4 inches.

Stabilize your mic on any hard surface with this universal tabletop mic stand.

Bottom line

Once you pick out your microphone and start recording, there are a few tricks you can use that'll make iPhone audio better — whether you're using an iPhone 13 or any other model — and give you the sharpest recording possible.

If you're recording outside, do your best to face away from the wind and keep your microphone protected. If you have to record in the middle of a field, a lav mic is always a terrific option because it hugs close to a person's body for a clearer sound. Just be sure it isn't too close to the person's mouth.

Believe it or not, you can get terrific sound in a closet. Your clothing can act as a buffer and eliminate outside noises. There are plenty of YouTubers and podcasters who do this! Most importantly, try to keep your microphone as steady as possible. The more it moves and bounces around, the higher chance you have of getting spotty, broken sound.

Be sure to use the right tools for the job. While high-quality recording equipment can get expensive, you don't need to buy a full setup for every conceivable situation at once. A solid microphone such as the RØDE Microphones VideoMic Me-L Microphone is a good place to start; then, you can see what accessories you need as you go. If you're looking to improve the audio when playing back your videos, consider one of the best Bluetooth speakers for iPhone.

The best iPhone may certainly come with an already impressive camera system, especially the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, but you can always enhance it further with the right accessories, like a lens kit. Yup, that's right — separate lens attachments for your iPhone can give you impressive results that can rival the best DSLR under the right conditions. Most lenses include fisheyes, macros, and even telescopic or super wide-angle field of view. And if you're doing something like shooting video with your iPhone, a lens can make all the difference.

Here are the best lenses for iPhone videography that we've found that can help you step up your photography game, broken down into categories, starting with the best lens for iPhone videography overall.

Quick List

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Q & A

Even though the iPhone can already take pretty good video and photo, having lenses increases the quality of your videos and photos. Plus, some of these lenses offer a perspective or field of view that you just can't get with the iPhone by itself, so it really ups your overall game. Even boring and mundane subjects can look interesting through a fisheye or macro lens, which is why these are the best lenses for iPhone videography.

We're big fans of Moment, because the company offers so many high-quality lenses and accessories. You'll need to buy a new iPhone case and drop-in lens mount insert each time you upgrade your iPhone, but the lenses themselves are virtually future-proof, so you'll have them for the long haul. You'll get the best results with the Moment system, because the lenses are secured and won't shift around while you're shooting video or taking photos. 

If you're in the market for something cheaper, the Criacr Phone Camera Lens comes with a few different lenses and just clips onto any iPhone with or without a case. It's more or less future-proof, since it's not made for one specific iPhone. 

In this age of HD and 4K, videos seem to keep getting bigger, but our hard drives and Internet bandwidth don't always follow suit. Whether you're ripping your Blu-ray collection to an external hard drive, or just trying to e-mail Grandma a high-quality video of your vacation, sooner or later you'll wish you could fit all those pixels into a smaller file. Happily, you can, with a little help from HandBrake – a free app that helps you compress video without sacrificing (much of) its quality.

Before we get into how you can use HandBrake, we'll quickly review how it works its magic, and which options might best help you shrink down your videos to your satisfaction.

How does video compression work?

Videos consist of frames, a series of still pictures played in quick succession to create the illusion of motion. Compression uses clever math to compare each frame to the next one, looking for areas of the picture that don't change. By merely making a note of the pixels that stay the same, and recording only the pixels that change, video compression algorithms help fit the same video into a smaller amount of total data.

But computers, like humans, aren't perfect. Throttle up your compression settings too high, and the machine gets sloppy, making the picture look blocky or less detailed (known as artifacting) or smushing a wide gradient of colors into an obvious, rainbow-y pixel smear (known as color banding.) The more compression you apply, the smaller your file, but the worse these problems get.

You'll need to experiment with compression settings and methods to figure out which balance of quality and file size works best for you. Compressed video won't ever look quite as good or detailed as the uncompressed original. But with the right settings, it'll look close enough that you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Let's discuss a couple of the choices you'll need to weigh before you start putting your videos through the wringer.

H.264 vs. HEVC: Which compression algorithm is best?

HandBrake offers a choice of four compression algorithms: MPEG-2 (oldest, relatively lousy), MPEG-4 (still old, not great), H.264 (old, faster, pretty good), and HEVC/H.265 (new, slower, even better). The first two aren't worth considering with the latter two available.

Tried-and-true H.264 converts relatively quickly, and it can squeeze a high-def Blu-ray file onto a DVD's worth of space or less. H.265 or HEVC makes files even smaller — but requires hefty processing power to crunch the necessary numbers.

If you don't have a Mac made from 2017 onward, stick with H.264. Older Macs can play HEVC files just fine, but only the newest models have chips fast enough to encode HEVC decently.

In my tests, both H.264 and HEVC looked remarkably close to the original, even on a big TV screen. And both held up no matter what I threw at them, from animated movies to black-and-white classics to films with lots of fast action and bright colors.

(Note that on some newer, faster computers, HandBrake will also offer Google's VP8 and VP9 encoders. They're generally considered comparable in quality to H.264 and HEVC, respectively. )

Constant quality vs. average bitrate

Once you've picked an algorithm, you need to decide how you're going to apply it to your video. Again, the trade-off here boils down fairly simply: a longer wait for smaller files, or a much shorter wait for somewhat larger ones.

HandBrake 1.2.0 and later enables Apple's VideoToolbox technology to dramatically speed up H.264 (and, for users of post-2017 Macs, HEVC) encoding … but there's a slight catch. (Big thanks to transcoding wizard Don Melton for his expertise on this next part.)

To make a very, very long story short, you have two options when compressing a video with H.264 or HEVC. Constant quality asks you how close to the original, uncompressed file you want the compressed version to look. Then it adjusts how much compression it applies scene-by-scene to hit that quality mark. This results in smaller final file sizes - but while it looked pretty good to my untrained eye, the resulting picture quality might not match that of your second option.

Average bitrate keeps the amount of compression within a much smaller range, hovering around a target you set. Basically, the higher the bitrate, the better your video looks, and the bigger the resulting file is.

At the same bitrate and file size, HEVC looks better than H.264. At the same general quality, HEVC produces smaller files than H.264.

For constant-quality encoding, Handbrake can't use hardware acceleration, so it's stuck doing the math in software. Thus, if you want the smallest possible file size with HEVC, you'll have to wait a looooong time, unless you're rocking one of Apple's tricked-out, professional-grade, cost-of-a-small-car high-end Macs.

VideoToolbox's hardware-accelerated compression is a whole lot faster, ranging from "impressively" for HEVC to "insanely" for H.264, but it can only use average bitrate. (As I write this, it's not clear whether that limitation comes from the chips themselves, or the software talking to them.) You can also use average bitrate when compressing with software, but given the massive speed boost you get from VideoToolbox, that's not nearly as tempting an option.

Here's a quick comparison of approximate file sizes using different compression methods, plus encode times relative to the actual length of the original clip. Remember, those speeds will vary based on your own hardware – I used a 2017 5K iMac – but the numbers below can give you a rough idea of what to expect:

• Original: 1.25GB
• H.264, constant quality software encoding: 1x real time, 239.5MB
• HEVC, constant quality software encoding: 1.6x real time, 50.3MB (… no, that's not a typo. But on average, my tests found that constant-quality HEVC ran about 35% smaller than equivalent H.264.)
• H.264, VideoToolbox, 6000kbps: 0.2x real time, 286.8 MB
• HEVC, VideoToolbox, 4000kbps: 0.4x real time, 205.6 MB

Good news for folks with older hardware: You can still use VideoToolbox for H.264. On an aging 2012 Mac mini, I still got compression speeds between 0.25x and 0.33x real time. Even if HEVC's not an option, you'll still get great-looking results, and much smaller files, with H.264 compression.

How to get started with HandBrake

Visit HandBrake's site to download a copy. But before you open the downloaded file, make sure you validate its checksum. HandBrake's creators added this security measure after hackers broke into their servers in 2017, briefly replacing the real app with a bogus version that installed malware on unfortunate users' computers. Take this quick, easy step for added peace of mind.

When you first open HandBrake, it'll prompt you to browse for the jumbo-sized video you want to diminish. You can also do this via the "Open Source" button in the app's upper left corner, or by simply dragging a video file onto the app.

HandBrake can open just about any video format you've got, but it will only save compressed files in two formats: MP4 or MKV.

MP4 files play nicely with iTunes and QuickTime, so anyone with a Mac can view them without any additional software. But if your video involves subtitles transferred over from a DVD or Blu-ray, HandBrake can only support one subtitle track, and only if it's burned into the image.

The open-source Matroska format can store lots of different video, audio, and subtitle tracks within a single MKV file, making it ideal for movies converted from DVD or Blu-ray. But iTunes and QuickTime won't play MKVs, though media servers like Plex and free players like VLC will.

You can choose between MP4 and MKV on HandBrake's Summary screen, the first one you'll see after you choose a video to compress. HandBrake offers unusually helpful tooltips when you roll over each item in its interface, so I'll encourage you to explore on your own, and just cover the basics here.

You'll probably first notice the preview window in the lower right, which plucks frames out of the source video to give you a rough idea of how the finished product will look.

You can select MP4 or MKV from the Format pulldown menu, but especially if you're new to HandBrake, you might want to consult the Preset menu just above it. You'll probably use its General (to create MP4 videos) and Matroska (to create MKVs) settings most often. But look through its Web and Devices settings, too. If you know what you want to do with the final video – say, send it to someone over Gmail or upload it to YouTube – or what specific kind of device you'd like it to play on, these videos can make configuring HandBrake a lot easier for you.

Otherwise, look through the General or Matroska sections, and find a setting that matches the resolution (most likely 480p, 720p, or 1080p) of your source video, and your desired quality. (Very Fast probably won't yield good results, Fast should be, eh, decent, and HQ and Super HQ offer the best quality, and probably the largest file sizes.

Presets load a bunch of settings that will likely approximate what you want. You can, and should, tinker with them further to your own satisfaction.

You can skip the Dimensions tab — HandBrake's good at figuring out the resolution of your original image, and you probably don't want to mess with that. And you can leave the stuff in Filters on autopilot, unless you really want to invert or rotate your video, or turn a color video into black & white. (Finally, the moody, noir version of Sesame Street the world has waited for…)

Instead, head straight to the Video tab. Look for the Video Encoders pulldown menu. It'll offer you the different compression algorithms we discussed above, including H.264 and H.265 (aka HEVC). Remember, even if you have the option, you won't want to use the latter on pre-2017 Macs, because H.265 will run sloooooooooooooowly.

Note that H.264 and H.265 come in different flavors — regular and 10-bit for H.264, and regular, 10-bit, and 12-bit for H.265. The higher that bit number, the slower the compression process, but the less likely you are to get color banding in the final product. Those additional bits mean the algorithm can detect and work with more subtle color gradations. If you're noticing egregious amounts of banding however you adjust the other settings, try one of these – but in most cases, you likely won't need them.

H.264 will also offer a VideoToolbox version, letting you capitalize on that turbo-boosted hardware acceleration I mentioned earlier. So will H.265, if your computer's sufficiently new and fast.

If you choose VideoToolbox, make sure to set your desired bitrate in the Average Bitrate box. 6000kbps gets solid results for H.264. For HEVC, 4000kbps gets perfectly good results at a smaller file size. And 6000kbps will get you a picture closer to that of the original (with a file size roughly one-third larger than 4000kbps, proportionally matching the difference in bitrates). Remember that at the same bitrate, H.264 and H.265 will produce videos with nearly the exact same file size – but H.265 will look better.

If you're not using VideoToolbox, you'll be employing software encoding. Make sure Quality is selected, and move the RF slider to set the constant quality you want for your video. RF stands for "Rate Factor," and bigger RF numbers mean more compression, lower image quality, and smaller final file sizes.

In general, an RF of 18-20 looks good for H.264, and 20-22 holds up well for H.265 – but feel free to adjust that. (That sentence will likely, and justifiably, horrify compression connoisseurs. But those settings are plenty good enough for everyday users, and you can always tinker with others for different results.)

If I'm encoding a movie and want to experiment with different settings, I like to use the Chapters pulldowns near the top of the window to pick a single short chapter from the film for test encodes. That way, I don't have to wait while HandBrake grinds through the whole file. You can also get a good general idea of how different RFs look under H.264 encoding with Matt Gadient's comparison images and videos.

If you're just compressing a home video you've shot, you probably needn't bother with the Audio or Subtitles tabs. They mainly come in handy when you're using HandBrake to convert video that originally came from TV recordings, DVDs, or Blu-rays.

In the Audio tab, you'll see all the available audio tracks bundled in with your video file. (If you think some are missing, look for the Tracks pulldown menu and select Add All Tracks.) You can use the pulldowns in the track listing to add, reorder, or remove those tracks.

Under Codec, you can either leave the existing setting alone or choose AAC (CoreAudio), which does a good job compressing the audio while preserving its fidelity. And if you know that the source video comes with swanky 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, use the Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro Logic II options under Mixdown to ensure that your audio sounds great in plain old stereo, but will also remain compatible with multichannel audio systems.

Follow similar steps in the Subtitles tab. If you're making an MP4, HandBrake will only let you pick one track, and it'll be burned into the video. For an MKV, set Track 0 to "Foreign Audio Search," and leave "Forced Only" checked. If your movie has any scenes where non-English dialogue gets subtitled, this should ensure that those "forced" subtitles show up – though for whatever reason, HandBrake's not always great at doing this. If you want to see those forced subtitles every time you watch the movie, make sure "Burned In" is checked.

If you're compressing a foreign-language film, and you always want a subtitle track to automatically appear when you're watching a film, check "Default" next to that track.

At the bottom of the HandBrake window, you'll find Save As:. Give the resulting file has the name you want. Even if you'll be storing your movies on an external hard drive, I recommend creating the compressed files on your local drive. HandBrake will work much faster, even when you factor in the time needed to copy them over later.

When you're finished, click the big Start button at the top of the window, and watch the progress bar creep along the bottom of the window until your newly compressed file is ready. (This might take a while, depending on whether you choose software or hardware encoding, and how big the original file is. Maybe go get a snack or a sandwich or watch some TV or something.)

If you've got lots of different videos to compress, use HandBrake's Queue feature. Open a source, follow the steps above to set it up how you want, then click the Add to Queue button at the top of the window. Then open another source and do it all over again. When you're all done, the Start button will begin working through your queue in order, and won't stop until every video's finished.

You can review that queue, see your settings for each item in it, and remove queued items before HandBrake gets to them by clicking the Queue button in the upper right of the window.

A quick note about DVDs and Blu-rays

HandBrake will not directly rip and compress video from copy-protected DVDs or Blu-rays. HandBrake used to support direct ripping for DVDs, but it removed that feature a few versions back. I'm not saying you should search online for HandBrake install libdvdcss mac to safely learn more about that whole situation and how one might hypothetically remedy it, but I'm also not saying you shouldn't. As for Blu-rays, you'll need to employ other means.

Put the squeeze on your .MOVs

If you want to really dive deep into transcoding, and you don't fear using the command line in Terminal, I recommend the aforementioned Don Melton's transcoding scripts on GitHub. But for most users, HandBrake for Mac should easily cover all your video-compressing needs.

Got any handy HandBrake tips we missed? Pack them into the tiniest possible space and post them in the comments below.

Video chatting with friends and co-workers has practically become a way of life in our modern world. I use Skype and FaceTime pretty much daily in my home and work life, and because of that, I've spent a good deal of time trying to perfect my video quality.

Whether you wear pajama bottoms or a dress shirt for a video chat, you shouldn't have to settle for sub-par results: Here are my favorite tips for making your webcam video look better than the rest.

• Film from above, not below
• Light it up
• Create a good backdrop
• Add effects and white balance with iGlasses

Film from above, not below

Whether you're using an iMac, MacBook Pro, third-party webcam, or iPhone, the worst you can do is have your camera below your face, pointed up — human faces do not look great chin-first. In an ideal world, you want your camera positioned slightly above eye-level, looking down at you. Make sure not to position it too high, however: You don't want to look like you're craning to stare into the camera when talking to someone.

Light it up

While the "calling you from a dark cave" look is great if you're trying to cultivate an air of mystery, it's not the best way to chat with your co-workers. If you want to communicate effectively, you want some light on your face. The best way I've found is with ambient lighting behind your computer or webcam — adjustable Hue lights that bounce their light off the wall like a Hue Go, or Nanoleaf Aurora.

If you need to bathe an entire office in light, consider getting a few portable LED lights and tripods: iMore editor-at-large Rene Ritchie uses these to light up his personal studio at home for video shows like MacBreak Weekly.

A word of advice: You never want to point lights directly at your face unless they're from a distance and allowed to diffuse somewhat, and you'll want to make sure you're evenly lighting yourself on both sides, lest you get the opposite of dark cave calling — "I'm in an interrogation room, send help."

Create a good backdrop

If you're routinely chatting from a specific space in your home — especially if these video chats are for work — it may behoove you to declutter your surroundings.

A few things to avoid in the background of video chats:

• Windows and lit lights: Both will create giant highlight spots that can either provide a wacky backlight or just pull focus from your face. To fix, cover your windows with drapes and turn your lights off
• Crazy patterns: They'll pull focus
• Reflective glass in picture frames: I've broken this rule myself, but be careful of putting posters or pictures on a wall that can reflect your studio lights, or use anti-reflective acrylic.
• Garbage and other mess: Especially if you're calling someone for work, make your studio space look professional and ditch the mess

Your tips and suggestions?

Do you have any tips and suggestions for great webcam video? Let me know below.

Originally published February 17, 2017.

Shooting professional quality photography and video is tricky enough as it is, but what if you only have your iPhone? Then what do you do?

Having the right accessories in your back pocket can make a world of difference if you're shooting on your mobile device (I should know… I forget to charge my DSLR constantly and often have to resort to snapping iPhone pictures instead…), and setting up a rig for your iPhone might actually show your professional side a bit more if your show up to a photography gig with more than just a smartphone.

Here's how and what you need to turn your iPhone into a truly professional camera rig.

• Cases
• Lenses
• Audio
• Stabilizers
• Lighting
• Apps

Cases

The first thing you need to turn your iPhone into a professional video or photography rig is a good quality case, specifically something that works with other equipment, can be mounted onto a tripod, and has a durable structure – after all, you don't want to drop your iPhone mid-video and have it shatter.

There's a wide range of cases to pick from, but cases such as the Beastgrip Pro work with virtually any camera phone and is a must-own if you're serious about iPhone videography.

Another phenomenal case to check out is the SNAP! PRO from bitplay...

Having a case with a modular design along with removable lens mount mean you can customize and play with your rig to put together a video recording device that you're 100% comfortable with using. (And if you're looking for a case/rig that works well with your iPad, take a peek at the iOgrapher Filmmaking Case.)

Lenses

If you're a fan of shooting iPhoneography already, then chances are you've seen or heard of external lenses. Like a DSLR, you can add a new lens to your iPhone to distort, enhance, zoom, and do things your iPhone alone simply can't.

There are plenty of different lenses that you can pick up individually on sites like Amazon or Photojojo, but those are aimed more towards iPhoneography than capturing crystal clear video (this isn't necessarily a bad thing, either!) Typically, you will get a macro, wide-angle, and fisheye lens with most packages, but these change from brand to brand.

Different lens kits can come with a durable case plus three standard lenses (macro, super wide-angle, and 2x telephoto) which work great for shooting video as a case is durable and the lenses secure directly to it, making them less likely to fall and shatter. High-quality lenses from Moment can also be customized with a case, or mounted individually with a mounting plate.

Audio

If you're wanting to conduct interviews, put together YouTube video reviews, or even capture the sounds of nature while you're on a walk, then you'll need a microphone that works hand-in-hand with your iPhone. There are a few different options to pick from: on-device mics, lavalier mics, and wireless microphones.

While your iPhone's mics are strong enough to pick up nearby ambient sounds, you can achieve a lot more with a lot higher quality, external microphone. Sound quality can make or break a video — poor sound can absolutely ruin a video with phenomenal visuals.

Microphones like the Shure MV88 are small enough to fit on your iPhone and iPad, while being strong enough to pick up even the faintest of sounds while providing superior audio quality and clarity.

Stabilizers/Tripods

Stabilizing your iPhone can be the tipping point between shooting amazing video/photography or shooting sub-par footage.

The pros shooting with DSLR cameras use camera-stabilizing mounts or tripods, and these expensive rigs are designed to hold the camera and mitigate unwanted movements like camera shake and help your final product look professional and polished.

Because your iPhone is a heck of a lot smaller than a DSLR camera, you don't need a massive, expensive, full-body stabilizer or gigantic tripod to shoot your video. All you need is a more compact and portable device, like the handheld Olloclip Pivot, or for a less expensive option, the Steadicam Smoothee, a universal mount that can be used as a tripod adapter, and allows for seamless pan and tilt action like you expect from the movies you see in the theatre today.

Lighting

Lighting is so important when it comes to photography and video. It can create a particular mood, accentuate certain details of an image or video, and be used to make things less or more dramatic depending on what you're looking for.

There are plenty of light sources available that work with your iPhone for either iPhoneography or shooting video. Some less sophisticated, cheap versions work just as well as more expensive ones, but it all comes down to what you're looking for and how much control you want over your lighting.

The iBlazr 2 syncs to your iPhone wirelessly, giving you full control over light's color and brightness. The lights work with a selfie remote and can be used with your iPhone or iPad.

Apps

Once you're done shooting your ideal video or snapping a series of stunning photographs, the next step is to edit them into perfection! — and you can't do that without an app or two in your iPhoneography arsenal!

There are a number of photo editing apps that have made the list as the best of the best to edit with, including filter-focused apps like 1967 and VSCO that give you some on-point filters to slap on your images, or you could get a bit more intense with apps like RNI Films or Mextures:

No matter what your skill level is, there's an app out there for editing your mobile photography and video, it just depends on whether you want to simply add filters or get more in-depth with special effects, transitions, and crazy editing.

If you're someone who's been going quite a bit of editing and shooting with your iPhone X, it might be best to check out the top apps for editing with the iPhone X in order to get a bit more familiar with tweaking videos and photos on your iPhone.

What gear is your go-to?

Is there we something we missed? A light you think needs to be on the list? A tripod you couldn't imagine shooting without? Let us know your favorite iPhone video devices and why you're so obsessed with using them to capture your footage!

If you're someone who uses their iPhone for everything, then it's probably doubled as a TV screen for you once or twice.

While there are a couple of different ways to watch videos on your iPhone, things can get a bit tricky if you're new to peeping that mobile screen.

Here's how you can watch videos easily and effortlessly on your iPhone!

• How to find and play video in Safari
• How to find and play videos from your camera roll

How to find and play video in Safari

When it comes to watching videos through Safari on your iPhone, there are a couple of basic controls you'll be using:

• Play/pause
• Skip back 15 seconds
• Skip forward 15 seconds
• Screen mirroring
• Volume control
• Screen zooming

Each video you watch will also give you a timeline that'll allow you to scroll and move to whichever section of the video you would like to watch/rewatch.

If your phone is locked and you attempt to make the video fullscreen, you won't be able to, so be sure to turn off your screen lock option before frustrating yourself with impossible fullscreen.

It's worth noting that the screen on the iPhone X gives you another text-box option in the lower right corner, giving you access to a keyboard.

1. Launch Safari from your homescreen.
2. Tap the video you would like to watch. The video should load fullscreen.
3. Tap the video while it's playing to make the controls appear.

When you're done watching, tapping the X in the corner will allow you to exit.

How to find and play videos from your camera roll

1. Launch Photos from your homescreen.
2. Tap the video you would like to watch. The video should load fullscreen.
3. Tap the play button in the middle of the screen.

Your video should begin playing right away with a scrubber bar appearing at the bottom that allows you to skip, fast forward, and rewind any section of the video.

How do you watch videos on your iPhone?

Do you prefer using an app like Youtube to watch your videos? Or are you content watching through platforms like Safari?

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

The Mohu Leaf Metro HDTV antenna is down to $12.74 on Amazon. It has been selling around $15 or higher since August, but that's only after dropping from a more regular price of $20. How much cheaper can this thing get before Mohu is basically just giving them away?

The Mohu Leaf is an over-the-air HDTV antenna with a 25-mile range.

Features include:

• Access High Definition Over-the-Air TV channels without a cable or satellite subscription, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, Univision and more
• Multi-Directional and Reversible HDTV Antenna: Paintable to match any decor, no "pointing" needed and comes with included 10 ft. high performance cable
• Derived From Advanced US Military Technology: Engineered to provide superior access to more free HDTV channels in 1080 HD
• Enables access to free channels only - does not enable access to paid channels such as ESPN/Fox News. Visit Mohu's website to see availability in your area TV Antenna Designed and Manufactured in the USA

Mohu covers the Leaf Metro with a one-year warranty.

See at Amazon

Less than a week after releasing his interactive app-based television experience Mosaic, Steven Soderbergh is making waves in the tech world once again. This time, it's for his upcoming psychological horror flick Unsane, which, according to Deadline, he secretly shot entirely on his iPhone.

The film stars Claire Foy, Juno Temple, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharaoh, Aimee Mullins, and Amy Irving, and was written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer. It reportedly follows the story of a young woman (Foy) who is forcibly committed to a mental facility, and like many films in similar settings, the protagonist will have to suss out whether the terrifying events she's experiencing are real or a product of her delusions.

Pharaoh spoke with Entertainment Weekly regarding the movie's feel and Soderbergh's process back in August:

Because it was filmed over this past summer many are speculating that the project was likely shot on the iPhone 7 Plus, which sports 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras and was the first iPhone to include Portrait Mode. Regardless, Pharaoh notes that the fact that it was filmed on a mobile device in just over a week doesn't hold it back cinematically:

Unsane isn't the first widely released movie to be filmed exclusively on an iPhone, either — Sean Baker's 2015 Sundance favorite Tangerine was filmed using the iPhone 5S, the FiLMiC Pro app, and anamorphic adapters.

Unsane is set to premiere on March 23 of next year, and will be released by Soderbergh's own Fingerprint Releasing via NYC-based distribution company Bleecker Street.

Thoughts?

How do you feel about the iPhone as a cinematographic tool? Share your musings with us in the comments.

The acquisition was announced in September and was finalized just last week, and its clear the companies didn't want to wait long to unveil their first post-integration product, Mevo Plus. Mevo Plus is the newest iteration of Livestream's Mevo{.nofollow}, and is a pocket-sized camera meant for recording live events and streaming them directly to Vimeo Live, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Periscope. While the new version includes all recent Mevo software updates (such as electronic image stabilization, Full HD 1080p streaming, and 4K recording), Mevo Plus is also said to feature the following:

• Stronger Wi-Fi performance: Mevo Plus is equipped with a powerful new 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip as well as Bluetooth 4.1, giving users optimal wireless connectivity so they can broadcast seamlessly.
• Faster transmission, increased range of use and less interference: Mevo Plus' 2x2 MIMO antennas allow for faster data transmission speeds, strengthened connectivity in noisy environments and increased connection range.

Users operate Mevo Plus using the Mevo app on their smartphone, giving them full television studio-like control over what they capture. The app offers users a wide array of editing options, allowing them to cut, pan, and zoom between multiple live shots. Thanks to face detection technology and advanced scene analysis power, users can also choose to utilize Mevo's autopilot mode, which will choose the most interesting shot and edit the footage for them.

• Mevo: The Live Event Camera - Free - Download now

Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud sang the praises of the new Mevo in a statement:

Mevo Plus is priced at $499.99 for the camera alone (or $799.96 in a bundle with a Mevo Boost, case and tripod) and is currently available for purchase on the Mevo site. You can also get the first generation Memo camera while supplies last for $299.99.

See at Amazon

Questions?

What do you think of the Mevo Plus? If you enjoy live streaming, is it something you'd consider shelling out the big bucks for? Let us know in the comments below!

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have some excellent new camera features including (for the first time) being able to shoot 60 frames per second (FPS) in 4K and a whopping 240FPS in 1080P for ultra-slow-motion video. But these two formats can take up a lot of space on your iPhone — 400MB for 4K at 60FPS (versus 170MB for 30FPS), and 480MB for a 240FPS shot (vs 170MB for 120FPS). As such, they're not enabled by default.

How much space does 4K take up on your iPhone?

Before you can shoot at these frame rates and sizes, you'll need to change your video format from the older (and bigger) H.264 format to the newer (and more efficient) HEVC codec.

How to switch your video format to shoot in 4K/60FPS and 1080P/240FPS

Note: The HEVC codec is not currently supported by all devices or in all apps, and requires High Sierra to convert properly on a Mac. You can AirDrop a movie to convert it from HEVC to H.264, but just be aware.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Select the Camera section.
3. Go to Formats.

4. Choose High Efficiency.
5. Change your Record Video option to 4K at 60 fps.
6. Change your Record Slo-mo option to 1080P at 240 fps.

Any questions?

Let us know in the comments.

Last year in December, a very small, select number of popular Twitter users were able to play with Periscope's new live, 360-degree video.

A couple of months later, Periscope has announced that Twitter's official live streaming app is finally available for everyone who uses their iOS app!

How can I stream 360-degree video?

You need a couple of things: the Periscope app for iOS and a 360-degree camera that works well with it.

Oh… So if I don't have a camera, I can't stream live?

Unfortunately, no. :(

How can I tell if someone is streaming live?

You'll see a little LIVE 360 badge beside their stream.

Do I get to control what I see?

Will you stream in 360?

Got a 360 camera? Will you use Periscope's 360-degree live broadcast? Let us know in the comments below!

If you're outside the U.S. — where the TV app now reigns supreme — when you get a movie, TV show, or music video from iTunes, it shows up in the Videos app. There, you can browse your collection, download and watch your content, and control features like closed captions, subtitles, and descriptive audio, where available. And because iPhone and iPad are so portable, you can take it all with you from room to room and place to place, and even AirPlay it to any Apple TV you come across.

• How to browse videos you've purchased from the iTunes Store
• How to see all purchases in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to stream a video in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to download a video from iCloud in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to change aspect ratios in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to change your start point in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to turn on subtitles, closed captions, or audio descriptions in Videos on iPhone or iPad.
• How to delete videos in Videos on iPhone and iPad
• How to enable picture-in-picture mode in Videos on iPad
• How to AirPlay to Apple TV

How to browse videos you've purchased from the iTunes Store

The Videos app is where all the videos you purchased from the iTunes Store are located. No other media can be viewed from Videos, so make sure you have iTunes video available before using the app.

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to view. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to view.

Here is where you will see a plethora of information about the title you selected. You can see casts lists, runtimes, plot summaries, and much more.

How to see all purchases in Videos on iPhone and iPad

The iTunes Store allows you to both stream or download videos in the Videos app, and if you have a lot purchases but not a lot of downloads, you will want to make sure that you can see everything that is available to you.

1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
2. Tap on Videos. You will have to scroll down the list a bit.
3. Tap on the On/Off switch for Show iTunes Purchases.

How to stream a video in Videos on iPhone and iPad

If you want to watch something you have purchased from the iTunes Store, but don't have the space to actually download it to your iPhone or iPad, you can always just stream the content instead. Just remember, any content you have not downloaded onto the iPhone and iPad will have a little cloud icon in the bottom right hand corner. This is the content that can be streamed.

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to stream. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to stream.
4. Tap on the content you want to stream.

How to download a video from iCloud in Videos on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to download. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to download.
4. Tap on the iCloud button next to the content you want to download.

How to change aspect ratios in Videos on iPhone and iPad

You can easily switch between a video's native aspect ratio and fullscreen. The iPhone's fullscreen aspect ratio is 16:9 and the iPad's is 4:3.

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to view. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to watch.
4. Tap on the name of the content you want to watch.

5. Double tap on the screen to toggle between fullscreen and widescreen.

How to change your start point in Videos on iPhone and iPad

You can choose at what point your videos will start playing when you go to watch them.

1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
2. Tap on Videos. You will have to scroll down the list a bit.

3. Tap on the Start Playing button.
4. Tap on the option you want.
   • From Beginning: This means all content will start from the very beginning each time you play it.
   • Where Left Off: All content will play from the same spot you stopped watching from the last time you viewed the content.

How to turn on subtitles, closed captions, or audio descriptions in Videos on iPhone or iPad.

Most movies and TV shows you buy on the iTunes Store will come with different audio options, and you can access all of these options with just a few taps.

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to view. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to watch.
4. Tap on the name of the content you want to watch.

5. Tap on the screen to bring up the playback controls.
6. Tap on the alternate track button. It's the little speech bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen.

7. Tap on the subtitle, closed captioning, or audio description option you want.
8. Tap on Done.

Note: Subtitles, close-captions, and other options are determined by the studio that made the TV show or movie, not iTunes. If you don't see the options you want, the content may simply not offer it.

How to delete videos in Videos on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the edit button.
3. Tap on the x on the item you want to delete.
4. Tap on the delete button.

The great thing about Apple, is all your content is still available via iCloud! You can easily re-download all your media at any time.

How to enable picture-in-picture mode in Videos on iPad

The iPad has the capability of playing your videos in picture-in-picture mode, meaning you can answer messages, check your emails, or surf the web while enjoying your favorite media.

1. Launch Videos from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the category tab of the media you want to view. There are four categories to choose from:
   • Movies
   • Rentals
   • TV Shows
   • Music Videos
3. Tap on the title you want to watch.
4. Tap on the play button.

5. Tap on the screen to bring up play back controls.
6. Tap on the picture-in-picture button. It's in the bottom right corner of your screen.

How to AirPlay to Apple TV

Whether you're at work, a friend's house, or a hotel, you can AirPlay your Videos collection to any Apple TV you come across. It's a great way to enjoy and share your content on someone else's big screen.

1. Launch the Videos app from your Home screen.
2. Go to the video you want to share.
3. Swipe up from the bottom bezel to bring up Control Center.
4. Tap the AirPlay button, middle right.
5. Tap on the Apple TV source you want to AirPlay to.

To turn off AirPlay, just go back to the source list and choose your iPhone or iPad.

This week, Twitter announced that it will begin to support 360-degree video streaming with Periscope. This means that you don't only have to broadcast live, but you can show off a 360-degree feed of wherever you are, too!

As with streaming live video via Periscope through Twitter, there will be a "Live 360" badge available. From there, if you want to watch the video, you can tilt your phone or drag your finger around the screen like standard 360° videos online.

Cool! Can I start 360-degree live streaming on my own account yet?

Unfortunately, no. Not all users have access to live streaming, but you can view any and all live 360 videos that appear on your Twitter feed.

Is it just for Twitter on my smartphone?

Nope! 360-degree video is available for desktop as well, although the support isn't particularly great. (If you're looking to watch your 360-degree videos on Safari, for example, then you're kind of SOL.)

What can I use 360-degree live video for?

If you're halfway around the globe, 360-degree video is an awesome way to show your friends and family where you're staying and where you're exploring in real time!

If you're daring enough, you can even use 360° live video with your waterproof iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, making it a great tool for underwater adventures or hijinks.

There are a billion different, creative ways 360° live video can be used: you just need to think outside the box!

What do you think?

Are you a big fan of live-video streaming? Yes? No? What about now that 360-degree video has been introduced?

Let us know what you think of Twitter's latest update in the comments below!

Facebook has recently announced that it's introducing a super sleek 360-degree video format into the social media app's live broadcasts. That means that you'll soon be able to share the environment around you during a seamless live broadcast online. Pretty cool, huh?

In order to launch this awesome new feature, National Geographic will be live broadcasting via Facebook 360 from the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah starting at 3PM ET this afternoon.

What exactly is the Mars Desert Research Station? TL;DR: it's a simulated Mars environment where researchers and scientists have just spent the last 80 days in complete isolation pretending to live on the surface of the red planet (I mean… replace 80 days of science and isolation with 80 days of internet and Netflix and isolation and that sounds just grand).

How do I view a Facebook 360 Live video?

Assuming that the 360 Live videos will follow the same format, it appears that they'll be as easy to interact with as other 360-degree videos on Facebook.

Can I view Facebook 360 Live videos with VR?

Because certain VR headsets work with 360-degree video already, it'll be insanely cool to see if Live videos work, too! Not playback, either: real-time, live 360 video!

When can I start streaming 360 Live video myself?

It will be an option in Facebook's Live API by the end of this month for publishers; regular users should see the feature roll out next year.

So? What do you think about 360 Live?

Will you be using live 360 video on Facebook? Or do you think all of these live-streaming features on social media are silly?

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Splash is a new app that immerses you in the world of 360-degree video. You can watch these videos, created by the Splash community. The app supports Google Cardboard VR headsets, giving you multiple viewing options. You can also create your own 360-degree videos, and upload them directly to Facebook, or share elsewhere as a link.

You can sign up for Splash either with your Facebook account or an email address. Here's what you can expect from the app:

• Capture a 360° panorama of videos and sound
• Use touch to control the video
• Stereoscopic mode for Google Cardboard and other tray-based headsets with intuitive feed
• Read more about every 360° video captured by the Splash community (description, when it was captured)
• Like in 3D: You can tap double anywhere to express your like for an area in the Splash
• See a gallery of the 360° videos you captured yourself
• Share any Splash 360° video to Facebook and let your friends experience it in the 360°-enabled player on Facebook

You can get started with 360-degree video in Splash now.

• Free - Download Now

The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are already proving themselves fabulous phones in many aspects, but their camera features are a special highlight: I've been doing hands-on testing with both phone cameras, and wanted to share some of our early results.

The video above displays the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus's timelapse features, digital and optical image stabilization, and examples of all the different shooting modes and sizes: 720P, 1080P, and 4K. I've also included a few comparison shots in each mode from my iPhone 6 camera.

I deliberately chose harder-than-usual lighting situations to truly test the range of the sensor, and both phone models performed admirably.

Timelapse mode on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus largely shows improvement in lighting definition; colors are subtler with a slight advantage in definition.

Color definition is also better in the 6s's 720P and 1080P shots, and the 6s Plus's optical image stabilization simply shines. My bike path tests were done on skates, actively striding, with the phones free-form in my hands. The 6 and 6s showed mild to moderate bouncing and shaking as I skated, but the 6s Plus came through with only light bobbing and weaving. The end result largely looks as if I was shooting with Hyperlapse, rather than the stock Camera app.

For the true stabilization test, I took the phones and my skates across an old wooden bridge. Skating that bridge even without shooting video feels shaky—the tiny slats in the bridge aren't the most fun to roll across. Equipped with the three phones, I shot three segments while rolling across the bridge. The iPhone 6 and 6s employed digital image stabilization valiantly—the shakes from my body and hands as I rolled across were much reduced in the resulting video. Again, though, the iPhone 6s Plus blows both smaller phones out of the water: The video looks almost as smooth as regular bike path skating. It's incredible, and makes me even more excited to use an iPhone 6s Plus this upgrade year.

We'll have more video tests (slo-mo!) and a full range of camera tests coming soon. If you want us to test something camera-related (or anything else), give us a shout in the comments!

Google's WebM video file format has become nichely popular in the years since its debut. As a royalty-free alternative to H.264 standard, it's used for high-quality-but-low-bandwidth videos on sites like YouTube, Reddit, 4chan, and the like. I'm not going to get into the reasons why people might prefer WebMs to gifs, MP4s, MKVs, or FLVs; frankly, I see it as a personal/site-specific preference. But here's the thing: those people who desperately want to view WebMs on their iPhone? They run into a bit of a snag when using a mobile web browser.

Because Apple's QuickTime player codec doesn't support WebM. That means no WebM videos in Safari, no WebM videos in Chrome (which uses the same WebKit-based rendering engine on iOS), no WebM videos in any third-party browser or any app integrating a web view.

But don't woe over WebM just yet: There's a third-party app to save you from your troubles.

As long as you know the URL of your WebM video, you can open it in or download it in PentaLoop's free PlayerXtreme HD. It reminds me a lot of VLC for an iOS device: The app claims to be able to play a veritable cornucopia of different video formats, including .mkv, .vob, .wmv, and yes — WebM.

I didn't thoroughly test the PlayerXtreme HD's competency in all of these formats, but it certainly played .webm videos back with little trouble. All you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Find the WebM video you want to view and open its URL in a new tab.
2. Tap the "Open In" link in the Safari window.
3. Select Open in PlayerXtreme.
   

4. Enjoy your WebM video!
   
   

That's all there is to it. (You can alternatively directly paste a URL into PlayerXtreme, but that requires a $3 in-app purchase to unlock its pro features.) Hopefully this tip helps those of you looking to watch some WebMs; if you have a different or better way, drop it in the comments!

• PlayerXtreme - Free, $3 in-app purchase for direct URLs - Download now

Instagram's Hyperlapse uses the sensors in your iPhone to stabilize video on-the-fly. That way you get silky-smooth time-lapse video, at up to 12x, of stages being built, forests being run-through, highways being race by, and anything else you can imagine. What you can also do, however, is choose to save the video at 1x. And what that does is create silky-smooth regular video. So smooth, in fact, it looks almost like it was shot for a steadycam. That's not only great for tech writers trying to cover new products solo at an event, but for everything from shooting a birthday cake in motion to an impromptu ukulele jam. You'll need to pay close attention to how to save the file, but otherwise using Hyperlapse for rock-solid video is easy to do!

You can always record your video using the built-in Camera app, of course, and then load it into iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or another editor and apply stabilization as part of post-processing. Hyperlapse, however, lets you stabilize as you capture, so if you want to upload to YouTube or Instagram or otherwise use the video immediately, right from your iPhone, it's already good to go.

Note: Hyperlapse doesn't keep the original video, so once you save it out, you're done. That means you absolutely, positively have to choose 1x before you save or your steadycam video will irrevocably be rendered as a Hyperlapse with no going back.

How to use Hyperlapse like a virtual steadycam

1. Download Hyperlapse from the App Store.
2. Launch Hyperlapse from your iPhone Home screen.
3. Tap the Shutter button to start recording your video.
4. Tap the Shutter button again to finish recording your video.
5. Swipe the speed slide all the way to the left until it read 1x
6. Tap the checkmark button to save the video.

Thanks to Dieter Bohn for the tip!

Sometimes you want, or more appropriately, need to keep an eye on things. To that end, a Mac equipped with a built-in FaceTime camera or another webcam can help, but only if you have the right software installed. ZipZapMac's Periscope Pro can help you surveil your Mac's surroundings.

Periscope Pro works with your Mac's built-in webcam, third-party webcam attached via USB, or IP camera — which means you can use it on pretty much any camera you can connect to with OS X. It has a simple interface that will only take you a couple of minutes to master.

Periscope Pro can provide continuous monitoring or recording that's triggered by motion or sound. You can control the sensitivity threshold for recording using sliders in the app's preferences to help cut down incidents of Periscope Pro recording when nothing's actually happening.

You also have control over the resolution and frame per second speed of the video. High-res cameras can produce big files fast, so it's good to have this feature as a matter of basic drive conservation.

Options in Periscope Pro include duplication of files to your Dropbox folder, password protection to keep the app from being deactivated, and a "Candid" mode that hides the app from the desktop and the Dock (the light on your camera remains on, however, so there are no surprises from anyone walking into the camera's field of view).

A clip library lets you easily manage what's been recorded, and an indicator in the main screen shows you how many clips have been recorded.

The latest release (as of this posting) improved support for OS X Yosemite and improved support for MJPEG-compatible cameras.

The good

• Simple to set up and use
• Lets you control video quality to optimize file size
• Supports Dropbox

The bad

• Nothing appreciable

The bottom line

Periscope is simple to set up and use and provides a truly seamless experience for anyone who wants to use their Mac to record video when they're away (or even if they're around). At $19.99, it's better value than it has been in the past, too. If you're not comfortable buying software you haven't tried, by the way, you can download a demo version from the web site.

• $19.99 - Download now

Popular cross-platform VOIP and messaging app Viber has been updated today with support for video calls from your phone. The app has also made it easier to add friends and manage sticker packs.

You can now make video calls from Viber on your phone to any of your Viber contacts, whether they're on mobile or desktop. You can also transfer video calls between mobile and desktop. Additionally, you can now easily add friends on Viber, either by entering their Viber number or by scanning their QR code.

This update also lets you more easily manage sticker packs, and you can now easily forward photo and video messages. You can download Viber now from the App Store.

• Free - Download Now

Vector is Mobile Nations' cross-site, cross-platform analysis podcast where we talk about the biggest stories and issues in tech with the smartest people in the industry. On this week's episode, Don Melton and Guy English join Rene to get super geeky about 4K TV (aka UHD or 2160p), HEVC (aka H.265), VP8, and the future of televisions, physical and digital media, and transcoding.

• Subscribe in iTunes
• Subscribe in RSS
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• Follow on Twitter

Show notes

• Vector 22: How to rip and transcode video for the best quality possible
• 4K resolution
• Ultra-high definition television
• High efficiency video codec (H.265)
• VP8
• Why Ultra HD 4K TVs are still stupid
• Active 3D vs. passive 3D: What's better?
• Netflix Internet Connection Speed Recommendations (Unfortunately, it doesn’t include their requirements for “Ultra HD.” That’s actually 12.6 Megabits per second.)
• 4K, HDMI, and Deep Color

Guests

• Don Melton of donmelton.com
• Guy English of Kickingbear

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie of Mobile Nations

Feedback

Yell at us on Twitter or leave a comment below!

Back in November, the legendary Don Melton sat down with me to record Vector 22: transcoding video, all about getting the best-possible results for personal use. Don was kind enough to formalize some scripts to help move media from Blu-Ray/DVD to MP4 format, namely, "transcode video file" and "detect crop". Well, Don's now updated both to version 2.0:

• Transcode Video
• Detect Crop

If you have any questions on them, please refer back to the original podcast and show notes. (If you need extra help, we'll be posting some how-tos in the near future.)

This week’s App World event in San Francisco was been dedicated to mobile games and apps. One section of the show – TV Hackfest - specifically showcased apps relating to television and video viewing.

Inside of the TV Hackfest area, we met with Anthony Rose, Co-founder and CTO of Zeebox. Zeebox is a second-screen TV app with features like a customizable TV guide, news feeds for users’ favorite shows, and discussion rooms for those shows. Anthony was kind enough to show us some of the things Zeebox can do and provide iMore with an exclusive look at the iOS update that's due out in a few days.

More about Zeebox

Zeebox is a free service that users can experience through the Zeebox website or by using the mobile app. Whichever platform you access it from, your profile, shows you follow, and other settings follow you on the cloud. The mobile apps are of course most ideal for the second-screen experience (using while watching), and provide some enhanced interactivity beyond what the website offers.

When you think second-screen TV app, you probably imagine using the app to chat or read about television programming while watching the show. Zeebox of course includes those features. Many program offer interactive content, such as polls to gauge how viewers feel about the latest reality show or news event. Or you can read more information about a topic that comes up – without having to search for it. And social users can chat in rooms dedicated to each program or comment via Twitter and Facebook.

Some shows like American Idol are tailored to that social experience, and their viewers like to discuss the show as it happens. Others require more viewer concentration; you don’t want to miss what’s going on in an action-adventure or drama by constantly looking away from the show itself. Zeebox still has something for people who just want to focus on the shows themselves. Whatever shows you follow, the app provides content and news to read about as well as opportunities for discussion after airing. The goal is to keep users engaged even while they wait for the next episode to air.

Not sure what’s coming on? The Zeebox TV Guide has a full channel listing. Once you find the show you like, follow it or interact with Zeebox’s content for it.

New Features in the update

The new Zeebox update will take the TV listings concept a step further by giving users a “My TV Week” feature. The feature basically constructs a customized listing with only the shows that you follow. At the top you’ll see the show you follow that will come on next. Below it are listings of all of the programs you follow that will be airing that week. Select a show and you’ll get a notification when it’s about to start. Planning your TV viewing (or digital video recording) schedule couldn’t be simpler.

The TV Guide itself will also be getting a significant upgrade (current version pictured above). Depending on the television provider you subscribe to, the app will act as a remote control for your service. Select a show from the guide and you’ll switch directly to the proper channel. This feature is supported by Comcast Infinity in the US and in the UK by Sky set-top boxes and Samsung and LG smart TVs. Zeeboz is always working to expand compatibility, so expect more supported devices in the future.

A two-screen future

Nobody needs a smartphone or tablet just to watch TV. But in this day and age, many of us love to look up information on actors and plot points or just tweet about the show as we’re watching it. Zeebox caters to those people and even people who love TV but don’t hold onto a device while watching. Check out the Zeebox website or grab the app for extra features – both are completely free to users.

• Free – Download Now

You see an amazing moment caught on iPhone video... in portrait instead of landscape. Sigh. You watch an unforgettable scene unfold before your eyes... sideways. Ugh. You see the most beautiful memory imaginable... that's so crooked it looks like it's sliding off the edge of the world. Rage. If you know someone who absolutely, positively just can't get their videos right, grab their phones, punch Horizon into the App Store, and have them buy it and use it. Yes, the greater the angle of rotation it has to fix, the lower the resolution of the video will turn out, but that's the price that has to be paid to straighten it out.

Because friends don't let friends screw up their movies.

• $0.99 - Download now

Some people don't like when videos auto-play as they scroll past them. Back when Instagram started doing this, I had a feeling Facebook and other social networks wouldn't be far behind and I was right. While Facebook doesn't let you completely disable auto-play for videos, you can at least stop it if you're using cellular data instead of WiFi. Here's how:

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap on Facebook.
3. Now tap on Settings.
4. Under the Video section, turn On the option for Auto-play on WiFi only.

That's all there is to it. At least this can stop Facebook for iOS from eating your data in order to auto-play videos.

Do you like the auto-play feature for videos, even if they're muted by default? I personally don't as I feel it's very distracting when scrolling. I'm interested to know how you guys feel about it too so let me know in the comments!

Instagram has updated their app to 5.0, bringing their new Instagram Direct messaging feature. With Instagram Direct, you can send messages, pictures, and videos to other people privately. Between one and fifteen people can participate in a conversation, and all conversations must begin with a photo or video.

To use Direct, select the Direct tab while in the sharing screen or open Instagram and tap the new icon in the upper right corner. On the sharing screen, you will now notice that you can choose to share your picture or video with followers, or using Direct. When you choose Direct, you can add a caption, select the recipients of your message, then hit the big green Send button at the bottom of the screen. People can then comment on your picture or video, or send their own in reply. If you're not following someone and they try to send you a Direct, you'll get a request so you can choose if you want to see it or not.

The Instagram 5.0 update is available now from the App Store. We've been testing it this morning and it seems to work well. You can clearly see who's viewed a Direct, and who's commented on it. How it scales over time, and how Instagram manages that scaling will be interesting to see. Once you've tried it out, let me know what you think!

• Free - Download Now

Last week Ubisoft announced release details for Assassin’s Creed Pirates and there was much rejoicing. Pirates takes place entirely at sea and draws inspiration from Assassin’s Creed IV. Many feel that sailing and piracy were the best parts of the latest console game, which bodes well for the new mobile entry.

We recently visited Ubisoft’s San Francisco office to play a prerelease build of Assassin’s Creed Pirates. Check out iMore’s exclusive hands-on video and our walkthrough of the opening section of the game!

From zero to antihero

Players take on the role of Alonso Batilla, a new character in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Since this spin-off revolves entirely around piracy (not assassination or the recollection of a past life), Alonso probably won’t don the series’ traditional assassin’s robe. Instead, he’ll build a reputation as a pirate and seek a legendary treasure.

The protagonist doesn’t start out as an established pirate. When we first meet him, Alonso has been taken captive aboard a vessel. His captors come under attack from the pirate La Buse’s ship.

Captain La Buse quickly takes a shine to Batilla. Not only does he free Alonso, he gives the former prisoner a ship of his own. Talk about moving up the ranks! Perhaps La Buse’s reasons for trusting Alonso will become clear later in the game.

Learning the ropes

After the introductory cinematic wraps, players will set sail towards their meeting with La Buse at Scorpion’s Reef. Steering the ship takes place in a first-person perspective, just as in Assassin’s Creed IV. Swipe left or right along the ship’s wheel in order to navigate the waters and avoid obstacles.  Buttons at the bottom-right corner of the screen control acceleration and deceleration.

Since the steering is so simple and intuitive, you’ll have ample time to take in the lush islands, volcanoes, and other landscapes of the Caribbean Sea. Speaking of the sea, Assassin’s Creed Pirates features some of the most realistic and eye-catching water ever seen in a mobile game. The water effects rival those of the latest series installment on current gen consoles. No wonder Ubisoft recommends a high-end phone or tablet to play this one.

Sink or swim

Before long, Alonso’s ship will encounter another seafaring ship and attack it. This is a game about piracy, not diplomacy.

Ship battles consist of attack and defense phases. Drag left or right to aim your cannons. You’ll have to lead a little to compensate for the opponent’s movement, but firing too far ahead can lead to a miss too. Cannons take a little time to recharge, so all the more incentive to fire carefully.

Your opponents won’t just sit there and sink without a fight; they shoot back too. When an enemy ship prepares to fire, the camera pulls out to show their planned trajectory.  You can then tap left or right to dodge in either direction. Successfully avoid damage to receive a Perfect Dodge rating (and keep your ship afloat).

On to new adventures

After sending an enemy ship to Davy Jones’ locker, players will engage in a fun little salvaging minigame. Boxes of supplies can be roped and pulled aboard.

The harvested resources can then be spent on items, crew members, and even new ships. Seeing as how Assassin Creed Pirates is not a free to play game, the shop prices should be reasonable. Fingers crossed! Having completed the tutorial, players will visit the map screen from which they can choose their next mission.

There’s much more to Assassin’s Creed Pirates. See for yourself when the game arrives on iPad and iPhone this Thursday. It will cost $4.99.

Most of us have tons of photos in both our Camera Roll and on Instagram. Why not combine all those photos into one video slideshow we can share with friends and family? That's exactly what Flipagram for iPhone does.

Flipagram is a sharing app that has one sole purpose, to help you make short movies out of your images. You can link up your Instagram account and pull directly from it, which makes for a neat way to rediscover old pictures you may have already forgotten about. If you plan on uploading the short video to Instagram, you can even have Flipagram time the video for you and evenly space all slides. Or you can manually choose the length of each.

Once you're done, you can choose music from your music library to go along with your Flipagram movie. From there, all you have left to do is share it. Flipagram supports native sharing to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, email, and export to Camera Roll. The only option I see missing is Twitter, which is odd, but not a deal breaker as you can always upload it directly from your Camera Roll.

All your Flipagram creations show up on the main menu of Flipagram underneath where you would tap to begin a new project. This way you can tap into any of your older projects and access them whenever you'd like to share them again.

I've found Flipagram to be a neat way to rediscover and interact with old Instagram photos I've forgotten about. If you've tried Flipagram, let us know what you think in the comments!

• $0.99, on sale - Download Now

Spark Camera is a new and unique way to capture and create short videos. Once you're done, flick through live filters to add a special touch and then share with all your friends in a single tap.

Once you launch Spark Camera on your iPhone, you see the main recording screen. Just tap and hold anywhere on the screen to begin recording. Let go to stop that clip. Hold down again to start recording a new clip. You can do this as many times as you like.

After you're done recording clips, just tap on the save button to see a live preview. From the preview screen you can swipe left and right through a number of filters. Once you find one you like, just save it. If you ever want to add more clips to a project, you can do so by just going to that project again and tapping the camera button.

Spark Camera allows you to add music to any of your videos as well from anything you've got in the Music app on your iPhone as long as it's physically downloaded. So if you're using iTunes Match, you'll just need to make sure you download the song before trying to use it as a track in Spark Camera.

Once you're done, you can share your video creations in a single tap with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, iMessage, or via email.

If easy and fun more is more important to you than advanced and feature packed when it comes to creating video, Spark Camera is for you.

• $1.99 - Download Now

The iPhone 5 and its predecessors got left out when it comes to slow motion video. Unless you have an iPhone 5s, the native Camera app doesn't support it. Luckily, SlowCam lets iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 4s, and even iPhone 4 owners get in on the slow motion fun too. SlowCam solves the Instagram slow motion problem for iPhone 5s owners too!

SlowCam is not only a dead simple app to use, it works very well from what we've seen. You've only got two buttons to worry about. Tap the lightning bolt to toggle on the back light if it's dark. From there, just tap the record button to start recording.

You'll notice that a slow motion button will then appear over the record button after you tap it. Hold it down to start a slow motion segment. Once you're done recording, tap the record button to end. There will then be a blue progress bar along the bottom of the video showing the progress of saving to your Camera Roll.

If you have an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5c, SlowCam video will record at 60 frames per second. iPhone 4 and 4s owners can also record slow motion video at the lower frame rate of 30. Once a video is done, it is processed and saved to your Camera Roll at 30 frames per second.

iPhone 5s owners can also benefit from SlowCam as it's a one stop option for saving and exporting slow motion video with no workarounds needed in order to upload slow motion video to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Since SlowCam automatically saves a slow motion video to your Camera Roll at 30 fps, you'll be good to go to share it to virtually any social site or file upload service without losing the slow motion bit.

The good

• Dead simple to use
• Processes videos quickly
• Produces pretty good quality slow motion video even on older iPhones (I was not able to test the iPhone 4)
• Great option for iPhone 5s owners that want to upload slow motion video to services like Instagram without the headache of finding complicated workarounds

The bad

• No complaints

The bottom line

Not only does SlowCam bring slow motion fun to owners of older iPhones, it can also solve some problems for iPhone 5s users where uploading videos to services such as Instagram lose the slow motion feature, no workarounds necessary.

If you want slow motion video and don't own an iPhone 5s, get SlowCam. If you own an iPhone 5s and use Instagram, get SlowCam.

Note: I didn't have an iPhone 4 laying around to test SlowCam on, so if you have, I'd be interested to hear about the quality so make sure you let us know in the comments below!

• $1.99 - Download Now

We're still punching our way through our iPhone 5s review process and, as part of that, I've been trying out the new slow motion camera. Accessing it is easy, just swipe down from PHOTO to VIDEO, and then again to SLO MO. Then start recording.

Instead of the usual 1080p 30fps, you get 720p 120fps. That's 4x speed, meaning crystal clear 4x slow motion. It would be nice if there was an option for 1080p 60fps as well, but I won't be overly greedy. Yet.

Once you're done, iOS 7 gives you an excellent, intuitive interface to not only clip, but to set slow motion in and out points. Once set, you can save and share it via the usual sheet.

Importing it onto your computer is more of a challenge. The slow motion is metadata and non-destructive, so if you just pull off the raw video it'll still be 120fps but you'll lose the in and out points you set on iOS. OS X Mavericks will likely address that later this fall, perhaps by keeping and letting you use the iOS metadata. Until then, you can import them into apps like Final Cut Pro X and reset the in and out points using standard tools

Overall it's incredibly easy to use, and a lot of fun. I imagine we'll see a ton of jumping pets, colliding kids, and Reservoir Dogs reenactments, and perhaps some clever bullet time too.

If you've given iPhone 5s slow motion mode a try, let me know how it worked for you. And if you have a clip you'd like to show off, please add it to our official iPhone 5s forum slow motion video thread.

If you use Netflix on your iPhone and iPad regularly to find and discover new shows and movies, you may take into consideration ratings before you decide what to watch. Contributing to ratings always makes a community a better place and Netflix is no exception. You can even rate shows and movies on Netflix right from your iPhone or iPad.

Here's how:

1. Launch the Netflix app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Search for or tap on the movie or show you've watched that you'd like to leave a rating for.
3. Tap on the red stars to the right of the movie or show banner. They will turn yellow.
4. Tap on the amount of stars you'd like to give the movie or show to add your rating.

That's all there is to it. Netflix will save your rating.

The YouTube app for iOS makes it easy to watch videos right on your iPhone or iPad. You can even subscribe to the YouTube channels you view the most for quick access.

Here's how:

1. Launch the YouTube app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Search for the channel name you'd like to subscribe to if you aren't there already. Alternately, you can tap on the username in any video you've already got pulled up to bring up their channel.
3. If you're using the searching method, once you have your results, tap on the Channels tab.
4. Tap on the channel name in the results.
5. One you're in the channel, tap on Subscribe. The option is to the right of the channel's name.

That's all there is to it. You should now see a Subscribed message next to the channel name in place of the Subscribe button.

There's undoubtedly come a time when you've found a video on YouTube that you'd like to share with someone else. Fortunately, the YouTube app for both iPhone and iPad makes this incredibly easy to do and gives you loads of options to do it.

Here's how:

1. Launch the YouTube app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Find the video that you'd like to share.
3. If there aren't controls already on the screen overlaying the video, tap on the screen inside the video pane in order to bring them up.
4. Tap on the Share button in the upper right hand corner.
5. Now tap on the Share option. It's the very first option.
6. Choose the way you'd like to share the video from the available options that include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, email, messaging, copying the link, and more.

That's all there is to it. The respective app or window will open and allow you to share the video. If you've copied the link to your clipboard, just exit the app and paste the link where you need to in order to share it.

If you have a YouTube account, you can easily add videos you want to remember to watch to your Watch Later list in just a few taps. It's a nice feature for times when you come across a video you want to watch but don't have time to right at that second. Instead of weeding through searches in order to find it again, you'll be able to access it in just a few taps inside the YouTube app for iPhone and iPad.

Here's how:

• How to add a video to the Watch Later section with YouTube for iOS
• How to access the Watch Later list in YouTube for iOS

How to add a video to the Watch Later section with YouTube for iOS

Note that you'll need to be signed into a YouTube account in order to save videos to a Watch Later list. This ensures that they are synced across any device you may want to watch from later.

1. Launch the YouTube app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Find the video that you'd like to save to the Watch Later list and tap on it.
3. Over the video frame, tap on the Sharing icon in the upper right hand corner.
4. Now tap on Save to Watch Later.
5. You will see a confirmation pop up that it's been saved.

How to access the Watch Later list in YouTube for iOS

1. Launch the YouTube app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Now tap on the dropdown icon next to your YouTube account info.
4. A menu will expand that gives you different sections of your YouTube account. Tap on Watch Later.

That's it. You'll now see a list of videos that you've saved to your Watch Later list. You can remove them after you're done by following the same steps you did for adding them in the first place.

iOS gave Apple an opportunity to rethink the way application developers should support and deliver media content on Apple devices. The result of that is a framework called AV Foundation, which debuted on the Mac with OS X 10.7. Now Apple's continuing that effort with new Mavericks technology for developers called AV Kit.

AV Foundation effectively replaces QuickTime by completely reorganizing the way developers work with media content on the Mac, providing a framework that's more compatible with today's computers and today's operating system, more intuitive to work with and better, all around.

When I say "QuickTime," I'm talking about the underlying programming technology and system frameworks. Don't worry: QuickTime .MOV files aren't going away, any more than the industry-standard .MP4 format that uses QuickTime as its basis, or even QuickTime Player, the app that lets you play back movies. What is going away is the crusty old C language code used to control media playback.

In its place is AV Kit. AV Kit lets developers working with Apple's Xcode development environment to integrate media playback, editing and other features without having to write a lot of code to do it.

Here's how Apple explains AV Kit in its public-facing site for developers:

There isn't a lot more public information to share with you about AV Kit at this point, so we'll get back to you once Mavericks is public and details about some of the underlying technology are a bit more accessible.

In the interim, consider AV Kit like so much of the other advanced technology in Mavericks: it's there to improve efficiency and get more from less effort.

Are you a developer who relies on QuickTime? What do you think of AV Foundation? Talk to me in the comments.

This is a movie trailer for the upcoming Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher, only it's been delivered by Instagram. Ignoring the fact that the movie has been hyped to death and back again, we're only a few weeks in with video on Instagram and already we're seeing the first movie trailer. It's an interesting concept, and pretty clearly something that we're not likely to be seeing courtesy of Vine any time soon, either. But, is it a welcome addition to our Instagram feed?

Whether it's the actual first of its kind or not is pretty much irrelevant when considering if its something we want to see in our Instagram feed. On the one hand, a 15-second trailer would need to be impactful and exciting, or as much as you can be in such a short space of time, so it's likely going to be well put together. Average TV commercials are around 30-seconds long by comparison, and most movie trailers are usually measured in minutes. Done right, a 15-second spot for a new movie could be just the tease we need to look for more, to go and find those longer trailers, or just stump up and go see the movie.

Then there's another side to the argument; trailers are basically advertisements, just for movies not products. Personally speaking, I'm already none too keen on the amount of videos taking over my Instagram feed, as I'm convinced Instagram video will provide the foundations for in-app advertisements. While movie trailers aren't quite that, I'm not so sure I want them flashing up. I liked Instagram when it was just for photos. Old fashioned, I know.

I'm interested to hear what you guys think of this. Does the thought of seeing 15-second movie clips hitting your Instagram feed excite you, or are you more aligned with my feelings? Let me know in the comments below!

The people behind youth smoking prevention campaign Truth have just released their own message game for iOS: Graffiti Collective. The basic theme is that smoking is really bad for you and the American cigarette companies do lots of awful things to keep people smoking. BUT even people who smoke like a hundred packs a day might just dig this free game's actual gameplay. As you can guess, it involves lots of awesome graffiti.

I like to think that games qualify as art. And like art, some games seek to promote messages rather than simply entertain. Not everyone will agree with what a message game has to say, but that’s how art works too.

 Good versus evil equals confrontation

In the Graffiti Collective narrative, a tobacco company has hired a group called Mind Fake Inc. (MFI) to create fake graffiti that inspires people to pick up the cigs. That part is based on something that actually happened. In response to the evilness, a group called the Collective springs up to counter with their own graffiti. It’s an epic battle of the paints.

The game consists of three basic elements: piece creation, location-based missions, and augmented reality.

Piece Creation

Since this game is all about spreading your graffiti out in the real world for others to see, you’re going to want some slick pieces of your own. Luckily Graffiti Collective has a powerful and intuitive editor that would make Jet Set Radio (a beloved graffiti game on consoles) red with envy.

The first step in making your own graffiti is to type in a word or phrase. Pick a font and color for your text and it will appear as a basic tag. To make the piece really stand out, you can draw a unique path for it. The word you typed in then changes to match the hand-drawn path. The result is fast-and-easy graffiti that still looks genuine and unique.

Location, location, location

Players must take to the streets (figuratively and literally) to complete a variety of missions in order to level up and unlock new fonts and items for the graffiti editor. Using your device’s location services, you’ll also fight against the MFI for control of the area around you. Tags created by you and other players appear spread across the map, as do the enemy pieces that must be neautralized.

Augmented Reality

Another cool feature is the ability to take photos with your device and then add your own graffiti pieces to the photo. It’s all the fun of graffiti tagging without the mess or THE MAN chasing you down. These photos can then be shared directly to Facebook or saved to the device for sharing by other means.

Time to paint

Graffiti Collective is a freemium game, meaning anybody can download and play it for free. The in-game shop also sells new fonts and items for real money, but they’re not necessary to play the game. Anti-smoking message or no, Truth and developer Mighty Play’s latest game should provide artists and creative-minded players a much safer outlet than running around tagging up all those shadowy parked train cars.

• Free – Download now

If you haven't already heard, Instagram was recently updated to include support for videos. Just like Vine, Instagram can auto-play those videos as soon as you scroll past them. For many of us, this feature may be more annoying than it is useful. As it happens, there's a way to disable it. Here's how:

1. Launch the Instagram app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. In the bottom navigation, tab on the Profile tab which is the furthest to the right.
3. On your profile screen, tap on the Settings gear in the upper right hand corner.
4. Scroll down a ways and they'll see an option for Auto-Play videos. Tap to turn the slider to the Off position.

That's it. Instagram will now not play videos automatically as you scroll past them unless you actually tap on them to play them.

Don Melton, former Engineering Director of Internet Technologies at Apple, returns for a special follow-up episode with Guy and Rene to discuss the newly announced Google Blink and Mozilla/Samsung Servo HTML rendering engines, and to tell us what us which new bear he's trying to get dancing.

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Show notes

• Blink: A rendering engine for the Chromium project
• Mozilla and Samsung Collaborate on Next Generation Web Browser Engine
• Úll conference

Guests

• Don Melton of donmelton.com

Hosts

• Guy English of Kicking Bear
• Rene Ritchie of iMore.com

Transcript

Rene Ritchie: The world needs to calm the fuck down a bit, I think. Sorry. [laughs]

Guy English: Alright, this is Guy English.

Rene: This is Rene Ritchie, and welcome to debug. Today we are revisiting Don Melton because the minute after we let him go the last time Google announced Blink, Samsung and Mozilla announced Servo, and the entire world went topsy-turvy. Is that fair Don?

Don Melton: Yeah, to talk about Blink first. By the way, I don't normal comment on Apple's current efforts, policies, and things like that but since Webkit is an open source project, I'll keep my comments narrowed to that. I was surprised it was that particular day from the announcement, but this was not unexpected. Something like Blink, well the name was unexpected, "Blink," who the hell came up with that?

I've really been expecting them to fork for a while. I figured they would fork after we announced Webkit2, so it's not unexpected. They're allowed to fork, Webkit is open source. Essentially, I did the same with KHML AND KGS almost 12 years ago.

It's not that big a deal. To get to it, everybody needs to chill the fuck out, to use the f-bomb again. It doesn't mean the death of Webkit, or the ascendency of Blink, or anything else like that. Some things just got easier and some things got harder for both projects and both teams. I get real annoyed at the press because Blink isn't suddenly more streamlined, since it's left the quote unquote crusty old Webkit.

I can guarantee you code is being jettison from Webkit2, maybe even more so than from Blink, but who knows? It's not that big a deal.

Guy: Do you think that the stated goal was to jettison a bunch of platform support that they don't need and try to clean things up a little bit?

Don: I think that's the stated goal, but in a way it's really about control.

Guy: OK, yeah.

Don: I mean all forks are about control. Doing a big cooperative project like that there's always body checking. [laughs] Especially when you have big companies and big personalities, but it's not really that big a deal. The thing is when you're in the web browser or web content engine business you know everybody after awhile.

I mean I've worked on... well depending on how you count three of these systems, and I know a lot of people, and there's nobody that I don't want to talk to. I mean, I still talk to folks from time to time. I still talk to Brandon Ike on occasion. Mike Shafer even though he's over at Facebook now. I talk to Dean Hasimovich at Microsoft every once in awhile. Hell, he's a Facebook friend.

These things are complicated and I don't want to project something onto the situation that was not there. I don't think anybody is particularly panicked or all that upset on either side. You have to remember that the projects are still more alike than they're different now and they probably will be for awhile.

Rene: Was it a reasonable fear that you know people would wake up and it would be IE 6 all over again and you would have to add special exemptions for Blink, and different code for Chrome, and the web would go back to having isolated islands? I think that was the panic response when the announcement came out.

Don: There's been a panic for awhile about the whole Webkit mono culture thing, and it may be the only good thing that comes out of this in the short term is it calms those people down because you've got two of these things now. I think that was some concern, but let's see what happens. It's too early. Anybody that claims to know what's going to happen here is full if shit. Including me.

[laughter]

Don: The other the thing to keep in mind is that like I said the press that I read about this was really annoying me because you know it's all the, "It's great for Google, it's bad for Apple," kind of thing, and that's kind of horseshit. It cuts both ways. Google is not going to have the crew that started Webkit.

They don't have Maciej Stachowiak, David Hyatt or Darin Adler, that are still working on Webkit. They don't have Adele Peterson, Sam Weinig or Jeff Garret. Those are kinds of things that they miss, too. They don't have the other resources. Apple's not going to have, obviously, some of their people and some of the other things, but it's not death. It's OK.

Guy: You feel it got spun into being a massive corporate kind of battle...

Don: Yeah, it's not really that big a deal. It's big corporations, and I think when you work on Webkit, you try to ignore that as much as possible. If you talk to some of the Webkit and Blink people, probably, dealing with W3C and other organization's more of a hassle that that, that's always been a headache over the years.

Rene: You're basically telling the kids that mommy and daddy won't live together anymore, but everything's still going to be OK?

Don: The thing is they're still going to have to live together. If you think that if Apple does a security patch in a piece of code that it needs to be shared, fixes some bug. You don't think Google is not going to go over and figure out what the div is patch and put that in. They're going to have to do that kind of work. They're going to have to work together and talk to each other still for that kind of thing, and it goes both ways.

If Google comes up with something in a piece of shared code they used to have, and Apple thinks that would be useful, the Apple guys...It's not just the Apple guys. There are lots of other people besides Apple working on Webkit, and there are other people besides Google working on Blink. Maybe, this is something that doesn't completely last.

There have been times when projects have forked and they've come back together. Who knows. One of the more interesting announcements was Servo. I wasn't quite expecting that.

Rene: Apparently, from the rumors at least, that was deliberately done right in front of Blink just to get out ahead of them. It was interesting.

Don: [laughs] If [indecipherable 7:55] , I would have done that...

[laughter]

Don: ...to get everybody distracted. They needed some press there. It's a...

[crosstalk]

Guy: What do we know about Servo? It's a whole new thing.

Don: Nothing. It that they're wanting to go out and rewrite their engine, and use the new language that they've been working on for several years called Rust to rewrite the engine. They're not rewriting everything in Rust. They're rewriting the core. They're essentially rewriting large parts of Gecko in Rust.

I don't think they're rewriting everything. I think it would probably be crazy to rewrite everything. I'm not sure. One of the reasons they said they needed to use Rust was for performance. I'm not quite buying that because C++ seems to have been working fine for Webkit and the LLVM Teams for years. I'm not buying that.

Guy: The other one was they said security, too, right?

Don: Yeah. I don't know why the language really...You can write secure code in COBOL.

Guy: [laughs] I think it has affordances that makes it easier to avoid buffer overruns and the basic stuff.

Don: That kind of stuff, yeah. We investigated things like that at Apple. You have to be very careful with that, because you can also introduce tremendous performance penalties if you try to do it in a generalized way in places where you don't actually need it. You want to focus on where the real problems are, so you have to be careful with that.

Rewriting an engine from scratch is not always wise. When we started Safari in Webkit, I didn't want to rewrite the engine from scratch. I knew that they would fire me before I was able to get something done. That's why I used something off the shelf. We eventually rewrote it. People don't realize is that WebKit has being rewritten multiple times. It's always rewritten, refactored, [laughs] and redone.

It's a subtle thing that the WebKit team has always been doing. That's why it's so up-to-date and cool, because it's always being reengineered. But it's done in small chunks, carefully.

Guy: I does seem a little foolhardy to just publicly say that you're going to be writing an engine with a new language. It's biting off a lot to chew.

Don: Props to them for having the stones to do it, if they can pull it off.

Rene: Yeah. I think the Samsung angle is really interesting here too, because they do Android, but they used to do Bada, now they're doing Tizen on the side. They have the Android browser, and the Chrome browser, but now they're doing Servo on the side.

Don: Samsung, I cannot figure out. It seems to me that there's somebody with a magic eight ball over there, just rotating it and trying to figure out technology choices, at least for software. Software, I can't figure out what the hell they're doing.

Guy: Yeah, I don't understand them at all. They're making money, so [indecipherable 11:32] , but I still don't understand what their thinking is.

Don: In the mobile space, it's basically the two people making money on hardware are Apple, who makes the most, and then Samsung, and nobody else [laughs] makes really any money these days to speak of. Hey, maybe they're up to something...

Guy: So did Gecko need it? Sorry, go ahead.

Don: I'm sorry, maybe they'll pull this off, who knows. Best of luck to them. I know some of the people over there working on that. They're good people, they're smart people.

Guy: That's certainly an interesting direction to go in, rather than just grabbing off-the-shelf stuff, trying to actually roll your own. It's an interesting play for them.

Don: Yeah. Being a Web engine geek, I'm sure I'll download it, try to compile it, and stuff like that, like I do occasionally when the fit hits me for other things and see what's happening. You know running WebKit nightlies and stuff, I've done that for years to keep appraised of what's going on, and to nag people I know about some bug or something else that I've had.

I do that for lots of other projects, just hobbies, but it goes back to having the superpowers. As a geek, you can do that stuff. I do not recommend this for other people. [laughs]

Guy: The nightlies aren't for everybody?

Don: No, WebKit nightlies are very, very stable, but I don't recommend them for everybody. I think a lot of people who run them are actually not the developers. The code developers there are website developers, content developers, who run the nightlies. I think that's actually a really good thing, because that's especially who you want feedback from.

Guy: Yeah, good valid testing.

Don: You need to listen to those people.

Guy: Is that true for Servo? Is this Servo public at all yet or is it just a name?

Don: I have no idea, I haven't looked yet. I'm waiting until I see something on Hacker News, and like, "Oh, OK. I'll go..."

Guy: Yeah, exactly. It seem like...

Don: That's what everybody does, right?

[laughter]

Don: Anyway, the sure thing is, everybody calm down about WebKit and Blink and let the teams do their jobs, Servo is interesting, and best of luck with that.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: Yeah, they're all going to work. There's not a...

Guy: I don't think we're going to get back to the time where the Web is so bifurcated between totally different engines. I don't think it's in anybody's best interesting.

Don: It's not the engines we should be worrying about with the Web. It's co-opting the Web in other ways, it's what we should be worrying about. If governments take over essential services and technologies, that's when you worry, because governments always know what they're doing. That's the kind of crap I worry about.

But this...these little pissing contests between engines and other stuff like that, or supposed pissing contests, because there's not really that kind of thing going on. For example, I know some of the people in the Blink team. Some of those guys, I hired, either at Netscape, at least one at Apple, one over there. These are nice people. They're not jerks...

Guy: Yeah. I don't think this needs to be a consumer level conflict, necessarily. It's just the way the code is going, and it makes sense to split it down the middle and go in different directions.

Don: Yeah, we'll see what they come up with, and yeah, whatever.

[crosstalk]

Guy: I love that this is the big news and you're just bored by it.

Don: No. As you said, that was several weeks ago. But my attention [laughs] span is very short, anyway.

Guy: It should be, because it's certainly not now.

Don: The thing to do is that a year from now I have a retrospective and, say, we still don't know [indecipherable 16:38] .

Guy: Yeah, and even a year from now, I can't see, anything huge. Like what? Like and extra [indecipherable 16:48] .

Don: I think a year from now...I think the projects are still going to be very similar. It's not that big a deal.

Guy: It seems like a huge codebase and it would take a long time to go in a radically different direction. Not only that, but the goal is to render everything the same anyway, so from a user's perspective, I don't see this being such a big deal.

Don: No, from the user's perspective it could be an improvement because of competition. Look at what happened when we came out with WebKit and Safari. I talked about this during my talk at Google, how we made Safari fast. We started the second browser war, it was a performance war. That was just better for everybody.

Guy: Yeah. When you're building this, you're making decisions. You're like, "This is the way we're going to go," and any one of those decisions might have gone either way. With WebKit and Blink, you get a bit of an A/B test. You can try different approaches.

Don: Right, and there's competition among teams. There certainly always has been. Remember the ACID test, the silly ACID test, that even Hicks says that they're silly. There's competitions between all the different browser teams to try to get the best scores on that. Some of that was just nonsensical, but in other ways, it improved everybody's engine. It's a shame that there's not going to be an Opera engine anymore.

Guy: Yeah, I forgot about that fellow. Poor Opera, man. What happened there? They decided to go with Blink?

Rene: Ice and Blink.

Guy: Well, they've decided to go with Chromium. What I get is they're really choosing is Chromium because they needed a GUI because they were not only letting go of members of the core team, they were letting go of members of UI team and stuff like that. They needed a project that was a browser too.

They'll naturally follow the Blink path rather than the straight WebKit path because they need GUI. I mean, Apple does not open source Safari.

Guy: That's a shame. I know they had weird, spotty support at times, but I like having that sort of biodiversity.

Don: Oh yeah. You know I'm a browser geek, so I have every browser ever made. I usually have...Let me go into Launchpad here. On my top row in Launchpad, I've got Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera right up there.

Then I got VMware, so I can run, not VMware, VirtualBox, so I can run multiple versions of Internet Explorer. I got a simulator around here somewhere, so I can run the older versions of stuff just when I get nostalgic.

Guy: You have some browser cred is what you're trying to say.

Don: That's like being a browser fanboy, that doesn't mean cred. But a lot of content developers have that same thing. I've had that for years for testing purposes and stuff.

Guy: You mentioned breifly, but you were in Dublin for the Úll conference recently. You've got to talk about making Safari faster.

Don: Actually, it's pronounced "ul." Not "yul," "ul." I got dope slapped for that a couple of times at Úll conference. It was the best conference ever. Let me tell you, it was fantastic. The hosts, Paul Campbell and Dermot Daly, are just wonderful people.

They put together this conference that's not only wonderful for all the speakers but wonderful for all the attendees. If I was a sponsor of the conference, I think for the sponsors too. It was fantastic to go to Dublin, I'd never been to Dublin, and to meet all those wonderful people and listen to just some amazing folks.

I met Matt Gemmell and his silky smooth Scottish voice. I told Matt that I wish I could bottle that voice and take it back to America. I got to meet Gruber finally in person, he's hysterical, along with my old friend Michael Lopp, and Horace Dediu, and Michael Johnson, Dr. Wave, from Pixar. I got to have dinner with them and Neven Mrgan.

Guy: Neven's great too.

Don: Horace is a brilliant man. We were in the...I think it was one of the breaks in the afternoon. In this session, we were all in this pub. I think it was one of the pub sessions that was sponsored by either Dropbox or Github.

We're standing there next to the bar interfering with other people's ability to get Guinness [indecipherable 22:31] . Horace would say things and would talk about the industry and say, "Anyway, that's my theory. What do you think Don?" I was getting the point, and I was just joking with him and I was saying, "Damn it, Horace! You're right once again." At least in my opinion, he is a brilliant guy.

Of course, Michael Johnson, he's got so many stories from Pixar. He and I had probably, between the two of us, some of the best Steve Jobs stories there. We actually were to of the people, as we were both joking, we were two of the people who, Steve actually knew our names which was a good thing and a bad thing.

[laughter]

Don: Other people there, Jamiee Newberry from Black Pixel, she was great. Charles Perry, a guy I never heard of from the company called Leaf Hut Software. He did this talk on accessibility. Oh my God, It's the best talk on accessibility I've ever heard.

Guy: Yeah, I think that's an overlooked technology at times. I'd like more attention payed to that.

Don: Of course, Jim Dalrymple was there. He talked about, I think in his podcast last week, about his "panel discussion" he had with Dave Wiskus and Kyle Neath which was not a panel discussion at all. It was a performance.

They went out and set Dave and Kyle and one of the other people, I forget who it was, were introduced by, I think it was Durment, sat on these stools as if they were going to do a panel discussion. Then they said, "Here's Jim Dalrymple," and he walks out with a guitar. The panel was actually a band.

They did 12 cover tunes, all the original songs of course which are in my iTunes playlist, I don't know about your...classic kind of rock, Led Zep, AC/DC, Nirvana, and stuff like that. It was great stuff. Then an original composition by Jim, that was fantastic.

Guy: Sounds like it was a blast.

Don: Yeah, the people there were great. I got to meet the Lord Mayor of Dublin. He's hysterical. I had to practice pronouncing his name, spelled N-A-O-I-S-E. I guess it's pronounced "Neesha." My new friend, Oisín Hurley, he was one of the sponsors and his buddy, Barry Scott, from Converser. Oisín's name is spelled O-I-S-I-N. Gaelic, it's hard.

[laughter]

Guy: It's not even a word. It's not a name? It's not even a word.

Don: What you learn to do is you have another Guinness. Let me tell you, if you go to Dublin, if you go to Ireland, you need to have a Guinness because when I went to Dublin and I drank my first Guinness, and not my only Guinness let me tell you, it made every Guinness I've had in the States taste like piss. You know what they say, "It doesn't travel well," and they're right.

My wife went with me. We went to St. James's Gate Brewery for the tour which was fantastic and had one each poured for us up in the Gravity Bar up on the, I don't know, seventh or eighth story, where you can overlook Dublin, fantastic view. It was like this marvelous beer milkshake. Oh, my God!

Guy: [laughs] That sounds great. I got to go there. I'll try to go next year.

[crosstalk]

Guy: Don't worry. They'll put in a good word for you.

[laughter]

Don: Paul Derman! I love you guys. No, seriously, they're really fantastic.

Guy: You gave a talk about speeding up Safari. Do you want us the gist of it?

Don: It was a bit of history about how we made Safari fast. One of my jokes in the talk was, we made it fast by making it slow first. [laughs] Fortunately too slow. Why I wanted to do the talk is I wanted to delve into a bit of history, and inside baseball for people, because they seemed to enjoy that, and things that they may not have heard, that nobody had ever heard, as far as I know, outside of the fruit company.

Outside of my little sessions, I would do at Apple in my department...The new people in the department would sometimes say, "Gramps, tell us a story. Something about back when you and Al Gore invented the Internet."

Guy: You'd sit around the campfire in the office?

Don: Yeah, pretty much. Around the couches and stuff like that. I would tell stories, usually with Darin Adler hanging around too because Derin's got...Hell, he's got even more stories than I do in a way because he was back at Apple back in the late '80s and early '90s. He and I would have dueling bullshit going on sometimes. That was a lot of fun.

We, as you well know from talking to me, he and I could both talk for hours, so a lot of fun. The new folks would actually listen and were semi-respectful. Hopefully, they'll learn something from those talks. I'm hoping they make a lot of stories of their own now. That's what they're doing.

Guy: I'm sure that's happening. It's the way things go, right?

Don: Yeah.

Guy: What was the gist? What's the take away from your talk?

Don: Well, the gist was that...What the hell? I had my speech laying here. I'll just get out my notes. The gist of it was, I asked, at the end after I told the background story was, "What do you want to learn from this?" It's real simple principles that a lot of people know is you set the bar high and performance. You don't optimize ahead of time. You measure first.

This is something people always do wrong. You focus on the bottlenecks, and you just lather, rinse, repeat that. You make sure over time you add metrics. You never ever regress, ever, never. Did I say never? You never ever...

Guy: I think that's the big one.

Don: The other one is you make it your religion. Dante's sixth, not the seventh, circle of hell, it's good to be precise, has a place for people who invent their own religion. I'll probably be there right next to L. Ron Hubbard one day.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: I told a thing at the conference. I said, "Some teams out there like to have a performance month at the end of their projects." After they have an 18-month project and they have a performance month where they focus on performance before they ship, and we used to joke on the Safari team, we have perform months too, 12 times a year.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: Either you make it your religion, and you get serious about it, or you're not really focused on performance.

Guy: Yeah. When I worked on games, obviously performance is an issue, and so often, before some big milestone, there would just be a giant push to try to get everything performing well. It just felt like exactly the wrong thing to be doing. We should be more conscientiously keeping the frame rates up and keeping the times down.

Don: Yeah. [indecipherable 31:29] all the time.

Guy: Throughout the entire process.

Don: Yeah, yeah, that's what we learned. That's what the object lesson from the...The joke I made, it's how did we make Safari fast, well we made it really slow first. It was my fault. We took our eye off the ball. I was so focused in the beginning of the project, just getting that bear to dance that I was unaware that it was shuffling across stage, not dancing. We fixed that.

Guy: OK. [laughs] One interesting thing about Web engines is that the content isn't under your control.

Don: Oh. Interesting is not that's the word that I used for that.

[laughter]

Guy: What's your word, Don?

Don: That's like the Chinese [indecipherable 32:18] we live in interesting times.

Guy: [laughs] Exactly. What's your word? You can be as impolite as you like.

Don: O God, that would take more that the [indecipherable 32:33] .

Guy: [laughs] It's difficult to make something perform when you don't control the input, or you have no hope of controlling the input at all.

Don: Right. You have to realize that you have to approach a Web engine the way you would approach a operating system. It's almost as complex. Very, very close. People will do crazy-ass things with your APIs. You have to keep that in mind. That's why, when I said Webkit nightlies, I'm always delighted when I hear content developers are out there using it. I was like, "Yes! Yes! Please do that!"

Because if you notice something stupid in terms of capabilities, breakage, or, more importantly, performance on your site, we always encourage a lot of the big JavaScript framework folks, "Please use the WebKit nightlies, and tell us if you notice something going south right away," because one, we'll fix it, and two, we'll figure out a way to turn that into a test, another metric, because a lot of those systems are so complex they're very hard to test.

Guy: Was that something new that you...When you were at Netscape, did you guys do a bunch of tests all the time? Did you have a test suite and did you do the time test suite, the similar stuff that you do in Safari?

Don: It was not as rigorous back then as I'm sure the Mozilla team is doing now. They're much more rigorous now. Because after WebKit debuted and Safari really shot up there in terms of performance compared to other browsers and people were publishing stats on that, the Mozilla team had their "come to Jesus" moment and they really got serious about performance, too.

They adopted a lot of the same techniques and they developed other things. Especially the Mozilla conformance test, they're open-source, so everybody uses those. Some of the ones that we have, they use, because they're open-source. They do that now, but back in the old days, we didn't really have criteria before shipment, we didn't have policies during development that prevented regressions. We were not as focused on that.

Guy: How does that work at a mechanical level? There's a check-in, then there's an automated test that runs, and if the timing is slower, then the check-in is just rejected, somebody gets an angry email, or what?

Don: It's usually an angry email and then a club. [laughs] In the beginning, what I was talking about, my talk, when we discovered the sloth and stuff, we didn't have the automated test on Safari in the beginning. We had a testing harness that Ken Kocienda wrote, God bless him, and that we were able to use.

But it was very hard to get consistent results from it, because you're testing the network, the IO, and other things. Believe it or not, I was one of the few people on the team who could actually run the damn test and get consistent results. I used to aggravate the engineers.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: Being able to do that calls for this anal retentive psychosis.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: That's just perfect for me. In another life, I was a QA engineer. I run the tests, and if I detected we were slower, I closed the tree. That was the beginning of my policy, that policy that I pulled out of my hiney. Boy, talk about making yourself popular on your team doing that!

Guy: [laughs] Let's say you'd literally lock down any other commit until the speed was up?

Don: The engineers, at first, were like, "Why are you locking everybody out?" I was like, "Prove to me that it was just one check-in that's the failure. Unless we know what the problem is, I don't want anybody adding to the noise. I don't want to give up any gains." Why would you give up a gain? Never regress.

The thing is, with a no regressions policy...By the way, the engineers balked at first, but they very quickly, to their credit, the team, totally got it. They're carrying on in my place now. It's jihad now over there. They totally get it. The thing that we found out from the no regressions policy is, even if you're not focused on performance and you're just checking, making check-ins on other things, but you never regress performance, dumb luck...

Guy: [laughs]

Don: ...will make you faster. Entropy will make you faster. You're going to get gains not even trying. Why would you ever regress? That's crazy. Don't give up ground on good fortune. You're winning the lottery there. Maybe one percent, but one percent is one percent. If you could measure it and repeat it, well, ka-ching!

That's money in the bank. You certainly never want to give up gains on hard work. That's just crazy.

Guy: How do you balance that with...Let's say there's a certain CSS feature that you need to implement, but...

Don: That's a story in my talk right there. That's a great example. When Dave Hyatt, the brilliant Dave Hyatt, shortly after he joined the team, we noticed that...He noticed because he's much smarter than the rest of us, and he was the first person on the team that really allowed us to actually spank KHTML, because I had the rest of the engineers focused on making everything around the engine actually work until they got enough domain knowledge to go in and actually change things.

But Dave had been working on Web engines at Mozilla for a while, so he had the experience. He came in and, first things he started on, because he joined the project a year in, was that KHTML was really awful at DOM whitespace handling at the time. This would mean you would get an incorrect DOM being created, and it was causing all sorts of compatibility problems.

Dave worked on this huge patch for over a week, and we really needed this correctness improvement. He told me he was working on this and I thought it was a great idea. He came to me and said, "OK, the patch is ready." I said, "OK, what's the performance impact? How did you test?"

We put it on the scope, and it was eight percent slower. [laughs] I was like, "We really need this feature, Dave, but you can't check it in." [laughs] He was like, "But it's doing so much more work!" because it was doing a lot more measurements and stuff like that, and, "It has more features."

I would hear that thing from people over the years, and I was like, "Nope. Find a way to make it faster." He grumbled at first, but he went away for a few days and he came back with another version of it that was one percent faster than what was in the tree. He made a nine-percent improvement and posted on the line. Not only do we get the new feature, but we get a one-percent performance improvement.

That's what you do. You never regress. When I hear about people that are, "Well, it's doing all this extra stuff..." Now, you have to be very, very careful about what your metrics are, what your benchmarks are, upfront.

Guy: I was just going to ask that.

Don: Yeah. You don't want to bite yourself in the ass later on. Engineers have learned showing me demos of little things that they're working on at that time, not just showing me something that's really performing because it's not using real data or not connecting over the network, not a simulation, because if they show me the real thing after that and it's slower, that, I don't like it. Don't show me that's not going to be the real behavior, because that's going to make me angry.

Guy: [laughs] Yeah, I think that's a good point about the metrics. If you're not measuring the right thing, then this Middle Ages fervor to meet the metrics is just going to end up being misguided. I think that's probably the key is trying to dissect and figure out exactly what you want to measure and what you want to stick to.

Don: It's really hard. It took us a while the get the hang of that on Safari and Webkit, it really did. We had too many simplistic metrics in the beginning. These benchmarks are really hard, especially when you're dealing with live content, and making this stuff consistent. You have to deal with static pages, and then you have to simulate live connections, in other ways, it's maddening. But there are smart people working on this, much smarter than I am.

Guy: So there's hope. [laughs]

Don: Yeah, there's hope. The thing that I interjected in the process was anal retentiveness and a willingness to be an asshole, because that's what you have to be. If you're going to lead a project, you have to say, "No, we're going to do this and you have to be willing to be unpopular."

It's tough work, but in the end the engineers work is much harder. They were the ones doing the real heavy lifting. I just got to sit back and be a jerk.

Guy: [laughs] Cash a paycheck.

Don: Yeah, I'm sure they had a [indecipherable 43:59] . Obviously, I did more than that.

Guy: Of course, yeah.You haven't been writing. Last time we chatted, you said you were going to be writing, but you've been typing instead.

Don: Well, two things happen. One was the Úll conference. When I first wrote my talk, which was supposed to be for...25 minutes talk, and I wrote a 4,000-plus-word outline, and I just tried to stand and record myself and do the outline. I hit over 90 minutes and I went, "Oh, God! I'll have to stop and cut this," so I cut, cut, cut.

I was actually cutting until the night before Dublin again. [laughs] I cut some more stuff out there to try to fit in into 25 minutes. I was focused on that, and I just exhausted myself in terms of writing with that. But the other thing that happened was our family member, our dog, our little girl, a Labrador retriever, Penny, passed away.

When I say, "passed away," what that means is we had to make a decision, and life was not very pleasant for a while.

Guy: Yeah, that's tough. I've been there myself.

Don: Yeah. I just walked off the end of something, and just didn't want to anything for a while. But I had to get my stuff together and do something for Úll and focus on that. When I got back, [laughs] unfortunately I had to deal with the fact that we had a plumbing disaster in our house, water everywhere, and ruined carpeting, and walls with holes in them, and stuff like that, so I was...

Guy: Oh, that stinks.

Don: Yeah, literally. It did stink.

[laughter]

Don: Plus, we're having to get carpet pads replaced this week and some other stuff done, so we had to do that. The other thing is, I started writing again, but it was not on my website. It was code, stupidly. I don't know why. I just got a hair up my ass and started writing some code.

Guy: You're going to tell us what it is?

Don: Oh, yeah.

Guy: [laughs] You don't have to.

Don: No, no, no. It's fine. I'll probably put it on my git hub project page after a friend or two of mine looks at it and tells me, "Well, this isn't embarrassing, and won't ruin your career, or your street cred."

Guy: [laughs]

Don: But just to explain, it's not a big thing. I'm not trying to sell this. It's just a little utility. I feel embarrassed that it took me a week to write that damn thing. But I haven't been coding, especially...This is written in Objective-C. I hadn't written in Objective-C in a long time. People probably think I write iPhone apps every other day, or something like that. I just don't do that. I'm too lazy for that.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: I stopped my development of Objective-C and Cocoa geekiness when John Sullivan joined the Safari project, because he was so brilliant at it.

Guy: Yeah, that's the thing about being a manager. It's that you stop doing your trade and you start doing a new trade, which is managing people, which is a very different thing.

Don: Yeah. There are managers who can code and still code, but I didn't want to be the kind of manager, because there was so many things I had to deal with on, at first Safari, and WebKit, and then all the other projects I was managing, and then be the asshole that blunders into the tree, stomping around and ruining it for the developers.

As a manager, what part of your job is, as I always say, you stand at the backend of the elephant and you let it shit on you so it doesn't shit on your team. You deal with all that stuff, and you make your...

Guy: [laughs] That's graphic.

Don: Yeah, it's graphic, but it gets the point across. When I would have people in my department who wanted to be managers, who wanted to move into that role, I always gave them the talk, at first, to frighten them. I gave them the "shit's in," I like to call it, which is "Here's the good news. Glad you want to be a manager. Here's what it's really like. That's the poop in-between the layers of tasty bread. Yeah, I think you can do it, be on your way." Anyway, enough fecal humor.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: In this little project, basically, I just had a piece of software that was annoying me for a trivial reason and I decided to do my best at rewriting it. I'm a encoding geek. I like to encode video and audio and test it out, play with stuff. Before the podcast started today, Rene and I were talking about encoding a little bit. I was boring him about it.

Rene: Not boring me at all.

Don: [laughs]

Guy: Do you like the math side of it?

Don: No, not at all. In fact, one of the problems with doing this project was, I forgot...When I started writing it, I was like, "Oh, shit! They told me there was not going to be any math!" No. At least in this code, I like dealing with the whole system, but in terms of encoding itself, I like getting good video quality and good audio quality with the minimum amount of work, and time, and size, and figuring out what the tradeoffs are there.

I've gotten very good at that as a hobby over the years. Trust me, folks, this is something that you'd never want to do. By the way, I always say there's three tiers to consuming video and audio. What I always advise people when they see what I'm doing, "Oh, could I do that?" I always say, "Well, you could, but really, what you should do is, you should go to iTunes Store, or Netflix, or Amazon Prime, or something, and stream stuff and not worry about this crap.

Or if you have Blu-rays or DVDs, what you should do is, you should use a tool like MakeMKV, rip them, and play them back that way. Only an idiot like myself reencodes the Blu-rays and DVDs they have." In fact, as we're having this podcast, I've got a batch script with the Handbreak command line app that's been running for weeks now. Actually, since I was away at Úll, re-encoding my close to 300 titles of Blu-rays, in the background, because I want to see what the results of that are.

Guy: It's a bit of dedication.

Don: No, it's not dedication. This is insanity.

[laughter]

Don: Normal people should not do things like this. It takes a lot of disk space and time, but I'm retired, I'm patient. Anyway, I do this encoding stuff and you have to test it. I'm a command line geek. I obviously like GUI's and stuff. I spend, I swear, the...

There's a few apps I spend most of my time at. There are, Terminal, VBedit, Safari, mail. things like that, but Terminal I spend a lot of time in. Not to disparage my friend [indecipherable 52:31] who's in charge of the finder. I do well, too.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: I spend a lot of time in Terminal. I test stuff with Nplayer. The Nplayer command line utility. It's really good and because you can pass all sorts of different options to it and things like that.

It tends to decode h264 more consistently than actually VLC does or something like that. It has other problems, but anyway there's Nplayer on a Mac can actually put up a window and have it show you video and stuff like that.

It does annoying things, like they put up this beautiful video window and then the bottom corners of the window have turds in them, like white turds. When you go full screen there are these white turds in the corner. It's like, guys how hard is it not to put these white turds in the corner of the window?

Guy: Weird, it's what? Just part of the window chrome?

Don: It's the way they're rendering the open GL later, that they created, into the window. They're screwing up the mask or something.

Guy: That's weird, OK. Don: I'm looking at the code and it's hard to figure out. I thought at first about just going in and debugging it and running a patch. I hate running patched versions of things because then you have to keep running the patch when there are updates, running the patch and stuff like that.

I went, "Well there's this project out there called Inplayer OS10, and Inplayer OS10 Extended, Inplayer X. I think I'll actually all embed Inplayer, how do they do that? I bet I could do that, and write a littler wrapper for that."

Because I didn't like the way that they operated either, you can't operate them from the command line, and they do other annoying things even though they are nice pieces of software. I thought, "How the hell hard was that?" That's hubris and ignorance, once again. It twisted my arm and I'm such a sissy when they gang up on me, and so I just started typing. I had to relearn coco and objective c and stuff. I had this little app, its only about 600 to 750 lines of code. It's a command line app, which wraps Inplayer and dynamically becomes a coco app, which is fun.

Guy: Well that's a bit of a trick, right? Because you got to...?

Don: Yeah, because Nibs is for sissy's, and I'm doing all sorts of things I really didn't use before, core animation, OpenGL, Local event monitoring for the sense, nstask, nsconnections, because I've got to run Inplayer in another process and communicate with it. Having to use grand central dispatch and blocks, you know all the new toys the kids like.

Threaded connections and threaded rendering, full screen shenanigans with nsview and stuff like that. I actually asked a question on Twitter the other night because I got stuck, I got some good help from a friend of mine. It's fun and it works. It took me a while to reverse engineer Inplayer even though I have the source code in front of me. It's huge, it's old, and it's kind of corrupt, but it does work. To their credit it does work very well.

Don: It's almost done, I've got to do a few other things and make the code not look like it sucks and then I'll put it on my git hub page, and I thought, "You know, what I really need is a better player app," and so I may have convinced myself to actually write a real coco application that's a media player.

Guy: That could be good.

Don: Quicktime Player's full screen mode annoys the hell out of me, because it uses Mountain Lion full screen mode. I hate that.

Guy: Yeah, that used to be an awesome app, Quicktime 7. The current Quicktime player basically seems like a wraparound QT kit, effectively, which is fine, but...

Don: It actually is a nice GUI and I'm glad that they did something that a lot of people don't do with apps, they just sliced off an enormous number of features. The problem was, they sliced off the features and they didn't put them anywhere. [laughs] You have to have both apps around. If you're going to take features out, you have to make sure people have a way to do those things. That was a problem.

It was a nicely designed app, but I don't like the full screen mode. I've never liked the Mountain Lion full screen mode due to the slow ass switch. I want something instantaneous. It doesn't play very many formats. It's really good for MP4s and certain kind of AVIs, but if you have other things you can't play them with it.

Rene: Like MKV, it's just not...

Don: It just doesn't work, you need VLC, or one of the in player wrappers for that.

Rene: VLC is ugly. I don't like VLC either.

Don: The issue with VLC is it's got the iTunes disease. It's become everything. Now that works for iTunes. iTunes, especially the new interface in iTunes, people have laid a lot of hate on the iTunes team for I think is actually great.

Guy: It's definitely an improvement over the old one.

Don: It's definitely an improvement. It's simplifying the app without actually simplifying it. Which I think is a great thing. What I meant with the iTunes disease was a joke we used to make every once in a while, you keep putting features into it. VLC has too many features right now. I'm a maniac about, before I release any code or release anything, what I always go, "What features can I cut out of it? What don't we need?"

Even before I released my little piddle-y Magneto, my site generator? I cut features out of it. Not that it has a lot of features right now, but I thought, "Why am I doing that?"

Rene: Features that you weren't using yourself?

Don: No, they could be done another way, and one that I wasn't using myself, so why would I want that in there? They were pretty minor features, as an example. There are features in Safari that I've tried for years to cut out. I can't do anything about it now. Look at the preferences in Safari, I think you could probably take about half of those preferences out of there.

Guy: Yeah, that's a good focus.

Don: A really smart man, Darren Adler, taught me something years ago. He was talking about assessing features, assessing preferences, deciding on how to do a preference, and the thing to do when you're arguing back and forth about something. He said, "OK, it's a preference. But which is the default? If you're going to have a preference, you have to have a default setting."

You decide on what the default setting is, and then you get rid of the preference, because you decided on the default, and you never ship that. That's the whole point. Make decisions. Limitations are clarity, they're features too. That's really an Apple approach. Back in the old days at Netscape we used to joke, "How many preferences does Netscape Navigator have? All of them."

You could get really lost inside that preferences dialogue back in the old days. To the team's credit, with Firefox they've vastly improved that, but it's still pretty complicated.

Guy: I think not only is it good for the user, a giant preferences box is confusing, but it's good for the team and the software itself because it's just fewer places for things to go wrong, really. There's fewer pathways to disaster.

Don: Exactly. Exactly. Less stuff to test. Less things to confuse people. I know I've been responsible for features that I thought at the time were really good ideas and they turned out to be not popular or confused people about something else that you wanted people to use. I think Apple is one of the best companies out there doing software and hardware for keeping things simple and keeping the focus right. We still didn't do everything great.

That's why I really applied the iTunes team and the idea of trying to focus things down. That's very hard to do. It takes courage to do that and possible annoy people.

Guy: Especially with such a high visibility app, right?

Don: Yeah. I think they did a really good job walking that line. I use it. I find it's fine. It still has way too much stuff in it but they're doing a much better job of hiding it.

Guy: Hiding it without it being totally inaccessible, tucked away maybe more than hiding.

Don: Yes. Very, very hard to do.

Guy: You're working on an iTunes killer?

Don: No, no. When I say media player I'm considering writing something basically a video player, something that's very simple and straightforward, and something that could sit alongside QuickTime player to be pretty and to play other formats. MPlayer X has the potential to do that but it seems to be maintained sporadically, and there are certain design decisions in there that are just maddening to me.

Guy: I would like that because a lot of that stuff just seems janky to me. A lot of it seems like it came from the Linux world and got a Mac paint job.

Don: Right. Literally it did because it's got MPlayer which started out as the Linux movie player. What was his name? I don't know if I can even pronounce his name, [indecipherable 64:33] . I don't know where he's from. The guy who did the original MPlayer OSX project back in the turn of the previous decade. That's essentially what he was doing is he was putting a Mac wrap around MPlayer.

You can do that and you can do it the right way. You can basically hide the fact that that actually exists and make it look like a real McIntosh application. I think [indecipherable 65:12] , the guy who does MPlayer X, made a good stab at that, but there are certain behaviors and other things that still don't very well.

Then we have VLC whose interface looks like VLC. It's a good app, though. Anyway, I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it.

Guy: I'd encourage you to do so.

Don: I'll probably come to my senses.

Guy: [laughs] Please don't. Stay crazy.

Don: The worst thing about doing it, though, is then I'd have to maintain it. [indecipherable 66:01] because he has a real job and he's doing that on the side. I don't have a real job. I'd really have to maintain it. That's the worst thing about putting stuff out there is maintaining it. I don't want to just throw something over the wall.

Guy: You could. You just toss it out and have somebody else pick it up and run with it.

Don: Oh yeah, but I've got way too huge an ego. I put these pretenses on about being a humble guy but I'm just as much of an asshole as everybody else out there about that stuff. When I've worked on other open source projects I've obviously tried not to do that, back when I briefly worked on Lame, the MP3 encoder. I tried to play nice with that community and it worked pretty well back there. Thankfully, they've rewritten all my code by now. I had to stop contributing to it when I went to work for Apple.

Guy: I hadn't realized you'd been involved with Lame.

Don: Yeah. I didn't do any of the really hard stuff. I did the easy shit. Early on somebody had added the ability to do ID3 tag support, ID3 version tag support, and the world had moved on to ID3 version two, which was, in a way, an over-engineered, wacky...

Guy: Yeah, it's a nightmare.

Don: Yeah, it's a nightmare, but it was what everybody was using. I hated running a tagger after I would encode something so I started doing a hack and it just got out of hand. I developed it into a set of patches and asked the team if they wanted to use that and they accepted it in the tree. Robert eventually rewrote all of my stuff, thank God.

Guy: Would you say that that's how a lot of open source contributions happen? There's two things. We were just talking about Google and Apple and their splitting and forking and they've got full time employees working on stuff.

Don: Yeah, that's actually very rare.

Guy: I was going to say, most open source is just random people getting annoyed with something and fixing it.

Don: Yeah, it's scratching an itch.

Guy: Was that true for Webkit at any point or is that more of a professional?

Don: I think that's true for some of the people who joined the team from the open source world. They went in because there was something they wanted to do and it got out of hand and became a career because it was scratching an itch.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: I've hired plenty of people like that, just amazing engineers, that way. The projects that I've contributed to, which are very few, sometimes they started out that way, or this program that wrote this last week. It's like, "Oh, damn it, I want it to work this way. Not that way," and I did something really stupid. I wrote a completely separate program, rather than develop a patch for what was there, which is the height of ego-maniacal stupidity.

Guy: I don't know. I'm looking forward to it. [laughs]

Don: We'll see. I've got to make sure I don't have any bugs. I ran into a hideous big last night. There's this protocol in MPlayer, that I think was developed by originally one of the OS 10 contributors for communicating with a gooey app, and I supposed it was a good idea in its day, but it's really hideous. It sends the host app through an NS connection that you create.

Guy: Yeah. You mentioned that. That seemed odd to me.

Don: Yeah. It sends you the height, and width, and the aspect ratio. It sends you the aspect ratio as an integer.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: Which is just completely useless, so I had to come up with...Yeah, so all the arguments are integers, so it's completely nuts. It defines some functions that can be called. Start, render, and stop, which are supposed to be called in that order. Of course, except when they're not called in that order by Mplayer as it's running in the background. I had a crash error last night, I discovered, when it was calling stop before it ever called start.

Guy: I hate that kind of stuff. [laughs]

Don: That's classic communication protocol stuff.

Guy: Yeah, that's the worst.

Don: It would do that for every AVI file I would flow through it. I'd stupidly been testing it the whole week with MP4s and MKVs and stuff like that. I hadn't run an AVI file with xbit in it, and it was like, "Here's I'll stop before I start."

Guy: Why? It's weird that AVI is different. Is there a command stream in an AVI file, or something?

Don: I have no idea. This is why I'm such an idiot to do something like this, because a lot of those kinds of internals, I never really pay attention to. I'm more concerned with [indecipherable 71:41] . I actually enjoy writing all the pluming. It was just a boat load of fun figuring out how to run something as a separate task. I had set over code before, and talked to my engineers before, but I never actually sat there in an editor and wrote all the stuff, or put the distributive object type connection and stuff like that, done it myself, it was a lot of fun.

You know, I had other code to look at, some of which was very nice examples, and some of which was like "Ahh!"

Guy: [laughs] Yeah, distributive objects are cool, but crazy.

Don: Yeah, crazy. It's just a pseudo-distributive object. Basically what you do is you create an object locally, and say it has this protocol, and then you register via connection of this name. The crazy thing was it usually worked the first time I did it. I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd done something wrong.

That actually turned out to be one of the most straightforward parts of it. It was like the renderer. I spent all this meticulous time not even testing the open GL code, but just writing it and code reviewing. I ran it and I didn't get anything rendered at first. I went "Oh well...it's too hard".

Guy: It's open GL. That's...it never happens. It never works the first time. It doesn't do that.

Don: But the open GL code was perfectly fine. It rendered perfectly. I had passed the wrong parameter to one other function down the line, and that was the entire reason why it didn't work.

Guy: I don't know about you, but I never am more nervous about my code then when I run it and it works perfectly. Every time, like if I type it and it works, I'm like "Whoa, something is screwed up here, something really bad is happening."

Don: [laughs] Yeah, some of the more trivial things that didn't work that threw me...like, I ran into every noob's screwjob with NS notification center. I've got two threads running in the app, and I stupidly tried to notify the other thread with notification center, forgetting that that doesn't work at all. I was getting called back on the same thread.

Why does it work that way? That's because that's the way it's designed to work that way. That's a feature, not a bug. I go, "Oh, shit. What's the best way to communicate with another thread?" I gave it a quick iMessage to my old buddy and former engineer Ricky Adams, and I said, suggestions? He said "GCD is your friend", I went "oh yeah". A little asynch dispatch call took care of that painful swelling, and all was well.

Guy: Yeah. I'm pretty sure you got a contact list that can help you with a lot of these problems.

Don: [laughs] It's like crib notes during a test.

Rene: Or a lifeline during a game show.

Guy: It works, come on. Exactly

Don: Yeah exactly, lifelines that's what it is. Rene, that is perfect. I got a lot of lifelines, and they're all brilliant people, a lot smarter than I am. I'm sure they could have written everything I've written in like a day. [indecipherable 75:03] They probably wouldn't have wanted to write this. Who the hell would? We'll see what comes next, but I've got to get back to my website writing.

Guy: Yeah, please do.

Don: What I'm going to do is probably take this 4,000 plus pages of notes that I wrote for that talk, and turn some of those into blog posts. I just get so tired of repeating and rehearsing the talk that I don't want to look at the material. I actually told you...

Guy: Just read it into Siri. Have her dictate the posts for you.

Don: [laughs] A question for you. How often do you guys actually use Siri?

Rene: A lot.

Don: Wow. I'm impressed.

Guy: Yeah, seldomly. I use it for setting timers and alarms and shit that it can't fuck up.

Rene: I dictate posts while I am driving so I don't forget the hook that I had when I thought about it.

Don: Apple loves people like you Rene.

Rene: [laughs]

Don: I always think whenever I use it and it just works perfectly, and it does what I want, I think to myself why don't I use this more often?

Guy: Right, yeah.

Rene: Yeah, then it screws you.

Don: Occasionally it will get confused, but usually that's an amusing interlude...

Guy: One thing I do find cool about Siri is yeah, it's an amusing interlude. If I'm telling it to remind me or something and it gets it wrong, at least when the reminder comes up, there is enough phonetic information there that I know what it's talking about.

Rene: Yes.

Guy: Maybe it screws up the name and it says "Rave" rather than "Dave", and it's like OK, fine I know what it's talking about.

Rene: It's much faster UI to enter reminders, and calendar events, and anything that's touch based.

Don: Oh yeah, yeah. Doing it with Siri is much easier than typing it in on a phone. My friend [indecipherable 77:15] , he is the person probably most responsible for the keyboard interface for the phone, I still prefer talking to Siri for doing long things like that, rather than typing.

Guy: Really?

Don: I'm all thumbs, literally. I can actually type very fast on my Mac compared to some people on the phone or the iPad. I do type very fast. In fact, typing is probably the most useful thing I learned in high school. I swear, it's the thing...Not the math, not even English lit., it's typing, learning to type. I still hit the Cupertino's all the time and it drives me crazy.

But I never turn it off, because it also saves me more times than it screws me up. Yeah, because my spelling is atrocious. What I would write would look like Middle English. Spell checking.

Guy: Yeah. Spelling is over. Computers can do that now. Yeah.

Rene: I think I said this before, but I have a godson who is four years old and can't write, but he uses Siri to send me text messages, which is awesome.

Don: See, that's what it's perfect for. That was like Charles was saying at Úll. Charles Perry, saying at Úll, you don't realize it but there are sight impaired people out there who can use a phone right now to see. There are apps out there that exist that they can hold up to take a picture with a camera, and they can tell them the colors of what's in their room, or their garden.

Guy: That's so cool. I'm really fascinated by this kind of stuff. I think there's...so the way that the accessibility software works is that you basically describe the functionality, or the...I don't know, how would you describe it, Don? You don't describe the layout, it's not about the visuals or anything. It's about what the content represents.

Don: Right, and you have to realize that iOS, like MacOS is one of the most advanced operating systems out there for providing accessibility support, because most of the stuff you just get for free. You don't have to do anything, but there are parts, like the stuff you're talking about, Guy, that you do. But I'm not an expert on this.

Guy: No, no. Neither am I, but it totally fascinates me, and I love the idea that if you set everything up correctly in your iOS or Mac App, there can be a totally different interface to your application, put on top of it via the accessibility stuff.

It just so happens that voice over is the one that works, but the way the content is described when it works out, can work in so many different ways. It blows my mind, fascinates me.

Don: Charles had this video that he played during his talk, of Stevie Wonder talking. This was before Steve Jobs passed away, I believe it was the Spring when it was known he was very sick. It was from Stevie Wonder, one of his sessions, and he got up in front of the crowd after his set and asked people to pray for Steve Jobs, because he talked about how much he loved his iPhone. He said "Here, I finally have a device where I can do everything you can do."

Guy: Wow.

Don: It was very powerful and moving. That's why I loved Charles' talk, because it was just intellectually precise and then it was emotionally moving, which is both the best speaking coming from being trained as a Minister, and the best writing there is, you want to be able to ever do. When you think about it, it's not just prose. I always want to impress upon people when they create software.

You don't need to just make software that makes sense, that's well designed. You need, if you want, your software to be used you need to make software that delights people.

Guy: I agree.

Don: That tugs at them, right? That gives them a reason to use it even when they don't need to use it. That's the best stuff in the world. If you can do something like that, man that's...you know, I've had glimmers of being able to do that over the years and that's the kind of thing that always gets you back to writing.

Guy: Well I think that people feel that they should be playing all the time. That software should be a toy. That it's to be enjoyed.

Don: Yes, and that's the right way to approach it. That's what you want. You want people to play and get a shitload of useful things done. Even if that play is in a game itself. Gaming isn't just frivolity.

Guy: Well that's why I never really found the animations frivolous in OS standards.

Don: Exactly. Well, the...

[crosstalk]

Guy: OK, there's some of the animations.

Don: I just have this quirk in my personality I just don't like the full screen transition. And, I know the guy who wrote it. He's a friend of mine, but it just always bugs me. They're not frivolous.

Guy: Right. Yeah, it could bug you but it's not frivolous, like you know why it's there, right? It's for...

Don: Right.

Guy: Not you. It's just...

Don: Oh, no, it's not for me. In fact, the reason why the full screen animations transition there's a very good reason. It's to give people context for what's happening.

Guy: Exactly.

Don: The way people try to solve their problem before is what they would do is they would, the first time you went into full screen they'd put up a dialogue and say "Do you realize we're going to full screen now?" and it was like, "What the hell?"

I like instantaneous full screen but that's because I'm a geek working at a command line. That's what I like. The reason why it's done that way on OS 10, it's brilliants because people go "Oh, I can see my other desktops sliding away. I can see this other thing coming in." There was a lot of work put into that.

Guy: Right. It is quite slow. Yeah sure, it's quite slow but I think it's the right speed that people see what's happening.

Don: Yes. Yes.

Guy: Like they're thinking during that process, "Oh my desktop is going away, and here's my new thing coming in." For me, it's like just do it, just get it out of my way and just do it. That's fine. But, I can understand why it's so of laborious in that way.

Don: Let me ask you two, the first time you used OS 10, you didn't get the light and the animations. When I was trying to think of what I was going to do at easel as it was auguring into the desert floor dying. I borrowed that G3 iMac from Andy Hertsvel, and I was playing with OS 10, the thing that got me going back there even though I didn't have a lot of apps there.

I had like Terminal and Text Edit and something else. Whatever was in that first version of Cheetah. I would go down to the dock and I would minimize and expand Windows, and just watch that kind of thing happen. Drag stuff around, and I thought, "Man this is so cool."

Guy: I love that. At that time I was writing video games, and just the graphic stack on OS 10 just seemed, to me, to be the way of the future. To steal a phrase. Draw everything into a backing store and then blit it to the screen with a Windows Server.

Don: It's a video game approach. That was the great thing about it, right Guy?

Guy: It felt like that. Like put everything in a texture. It wasn't in that earlier version, but I could see the way it was going to be. Everything is fully buffered, just draw into the buffer and then throw a bunch of textures around the screen. Awesome.

Don: By the way, it's very mature doing that stuff now. I was really stunned and delighted when I was writing this little app about all of the wonderful stuff in there, like the first time I created a CG, or core animation texture cache. It was like totally easy.

You just attach a layer to a view. You say to the view, "Set once, layer, set layer," and it automatically re-sizes and moves around. Everything is taken care of for you magically.

Guy: It's so good, it's so good.

Don: It's like one of those Japanese toilets that wipes your butt and it's just so good. It's like an art.

Guy: [laughs] I don't know if I would have said that.

Don: Well that's OK, it's me being fecal again. This is the first time I've actually written something in Ark. It's like, "Oh my God," I'm never going back.

Guy: Yeah.

Don: It's like retain release, screw that. Before I do release, I have to put the scope on this and see if I actually am leaking anything and do some other measurements. Performance is really good, but you can have really good performance because you're leaking the world.

You can use Ark badly and having multiple threads and stuff like that, you have to be careful with. Syntactically, and the clarity, and the code, and everything else you're doing, I'll never go back from that. But, I still like the original name for Ark that we had.

Guy: Oh yeah, it was ARR.

Don: Yeah. ARR. Because we were walking...

[crosstalk]

Guy: Yeah, you were telling me that [laughs] .

Don: Yeah. Automatic Retain Release. ARR. But the marketing guys got a hold of it then it became Ark. Damn it. Because you can write C, because that's what objective C is with this weird syntax from small talk. You can write C like it's Ruby or Python.

It's just so easy. You have to take a few precautions, like this stunt where you have a command line app that becomes another application, I have to have my main function, I have to wrap that in an at-auto release pool, little thing there. You have to remember to do that on your thread entry.

Guy: Yeah, it's whatever.

Don: It's not that it's not a nice attempt. An at-auto release pool, the great thing about it is even if you're not using Ark, those directives will do all the other old stupid nonsense for you, anyway.

Guy: Yeah. There's a bunch of good stuff to consider. It still hurts my brain looking at, just calling eloquent on something, then not releasing it someplace later. I just still trip over that mentally, but I'm just being an idiot.

Don: It took me about a half an hour, and then there was no looking back. [laughs]

Guy: My main product that I work on is not Ark yet, but I'm working on a bunch of other stuff that is Ark. I'm slowly getting...

Don: You know what's not Ark yet, but will be hopefully this summer is XCode itself.

Guy: I sadly believe that. You know what, XCode was GC. It was garbage collected.

Don: Right. Because XCode always was the big [indecipherable 89:51] dog food thing. You got to respect the XCode team for that.

Guy: Oh, totally, yeah. It gets a lot of hate that it doesn't deserve, I think.

Don: Although, I was cursing it this week. The online documentation thing is fantastic. XCode is the best environment to work in, even though I'm not using it now. I'll explain why. To work in, compared to everything else that is out there, like if you're developing Android apps now, XCode is so much better than what the Android folks have.

The documentation viewer is so damn slow when you type into that little search field. Oh, I just want to strangle somebody. It's the indexing. I don't know what's going on there with indexing but it just makes me nuts. I can actually go into Safari, type what I want into a Duck-Duck-Go window, what I want, even saying site: developer.apple.com, and hit return and get results faster than I can sometimes looking at the documentation.

Guy: That is exactly what I do.

Don: Yeah.

Guy: But without the Duck-Duck-Go. [laughs] I should try that out a bit more. But like the documents windows...

Don: It's not built into Safari, but I try to reduce my surface area as much as possible with Google.

Guy: [laughs]

Don: No, not to dispirit. It's just privacy and other concerns.

Guy: Yeah. That's not a bad idea.

Don: I don't recommend that for everybody.

Guy: Go ahead.

Don: I said I don't recommend that for everybody. I also don't recommend the stunt that I'm doing now to develop the whole app. I am actually not writing in XCode, I am writing in VBedit.

Guy: That's pretty old school.

Don: Yeah. Well, I'm 56 year old, so there is nothing I do that's not old school.

Guy: Come on. You're still hip with the kids.

[laughter]

Don: Yes, that new lingo. Sometimes I try to talk like the pseudo-hip person just to annoy my 22 year old son, especially when his homies come over. They were over the other night.

Guy: [laughs] You swear far more than anybody that age, so don't worry about it. You're rocking.

Don: Anyways, I like to embarrass him. Getting back to VBedit and the way I was writing this, it's basically VBedit and a make file. It's all like one file because I'm heinous. What I'll do once I'm done is then I'll break it up into separate source files and probably stick it in to XCode just to make sure everything else runs. Also, so I can do some automated tests. It's nothing for me just to whip out a text file, do a make file in like five seconds, and boom you're good to go, right?

Guy: Yeah.

Don: This is crazy, but when you start a project and it's really small, doing it in a single source file is actually very useful because it makes it much easier to search and replace, and do everything else, and understand the context of what you have. Once you get to a thousand lines, well you're screwed.

Guy: Yeah. I had to help fix a project like that. It was like a game from the jailbreak world that we ported to run on the first iOS SDK. It was one giant file.

Don: How many lines?

Guy: Oh God, more than a thousand. It got out of hand, but it was just the guy having fun and just hacking on it, and it turned into a product. Wow, that was a bit of a pain in the ass.

Don: I'm sure that program was still shorter than the original NetgetURL function in Netscape Navigator Four, still shorter.

Guy: [laughs] I bet.

Don: Sorry, I interrupted you.

Guy: No, no, no. I was going to say that, yeah, I can see that joy of just having one file, and just typing in a bunch of stuff and having it work. That's how we got into programming, right?

Don: Exactly. It's like writing a script, right? But don't listen to the old crazy man.

Guy: Yeah, do not do this, but I can see the appeal.

[laughter]

Don: For me that was useful because I can scroll...it's funny, I can scroll it up and down in my head. I don't know about you, Guy, but after years of programming, when you're not in front of the terminal, you can scroll you're code up and down right in front of your eyes. Make the edits, and stuff like that.

Guy: Yeah, I can see the structure.

Don: Yeah.

Guy: I just know where stuff is.

Don: Yeah, that's creepy. You describe this to other people and they just think that you're some kind of serial killer. It takes the same capabilities to do that.

Guy: I don't know, I've been watching a lot of "Dexter" recently. I don't want to get...

Don: Oh, really? God, I'm like two seasons behind now.

Guy: I just started. I'm like in the middle of the second season.

Don: Oh really? Oh. I got to say, the first season of "Dexter" was one of my favorite...

Guy: It was brilliant. It was brilliant.

Don: ...episodes of television. Just terrible, in a way when you think about it, the morality of rooting for a serial killer.

Guy: It's horrible. [laughs]

Don: What they do to your head, it's like, "I can't..."

Guy: It's Soprano's morality.

Don: Yeah, exactly. It's like the Soprano's. I love that kind of stuff.

Guy: Yeah, I'm enjoying it.

Don: I don't know why I'm encoding all this stuff, because I got so much stuff queued up that I still haven't watched. I probably got a year's worth of TV and movies that I still need to watch.

Guy: [laughs] It's your affectation, and it's just what you got to do. What do you do? You encode. That's it.

Don: Yeah...I want to see if I can get the best possible thing at one time. I was talking to Rene before the broadcast started about getting stuff from iTunes, and Rene's saying, "Well it's still not Blu-Ray quality".

Rene: Yeah, we did that. One of our recordings we did in 4K and we're playing around with trying to get it online right now.

Don: I just think that's insane that it's 4K. Wow, I'm impressed, 4K.

Rene: Well we'll be impressed if it works. We'll see.

Don: At those bit rates you're never going to get Blu-Ray quality.

Guy: Yeah.

Don: But you can get something that is reasonable that 99 percent of people can see on their HDTV sitting across the room at five megabits, 1080 P. That is what iTunes, most of their 1080 P video is. The odd thing is, they're 720 P video, it's four megabits.

You go, "Hmm, wait a minute, I'm watching 720 P and it's four megabits, and the 1080 P is only 20 to 25 percent larger, in terms of number of bits and bit rate? How the hell does that work when the actual viewing area is two and a half times?"

It's the weirdities of our eyes and resolutions and stretching things that actually pulls it off.

Guy: I was watching "Zero Dark Thirty" over iTunes, and in that helicopter assault scene, it's awful. It's like blocky, it's like mpeg city. I was distracted to the point of just being angry.

Rene: I saw the movie, and that whole scene was poorly shot in terms of the darkness. They could have shot it all through infrared and made it much more legible to the viewer.

Guy: Oh yeah? OK.

Don: Not to dive too deep on encoding problems. There's a few problems that encoders run into. H264 converting, you run into, and that's the blockiness. There's also the thing where you can get a lot of blockiness where you have very subtle color change.

Guy: Yeah, because it doesn't' capture it, right?

Don: Make yourself sad and watch a couple of animated films on iTunes and you'll see some large, very tapered surfaces which seem to have some stair-step effect. The way to fix that is simply more bits. That's the only way you're going to get around that problem.

That's the problem that a lot of people make the mistake at. The big thing these days, a lot of people are really hot for, obviously doing things like, I don't know if you're familiar with X264. That's the encoder I'm using built into [indecipherable 99:28] .

They have a mode CRF, Constant Rate Factor, which you give it a quality setting and then it goes and does stuff, and you basically get a variable bit rate encode. This sounds like a wonderful idea. Except that to use the same quality setting on every movie, if you're going to take Blu-Rays, or DVDs as source bits, you're going to have to set it to such a high quality setting that, on occasion, you'll have output that is larger than your input.

Believe it or not, the way Apple is doing it, by doing essentially a fixed bit rate, is actually a better way to go with getting consistent quality, because really noisy stuff is going to look noisy anyway. If it's complex, the original was noisy, the encoded version was noisy, and for things that are very still, animations, or very quiet movies, you want a lot of bits in that stuff because your eyes will notice the details.

You can't use a lower quality setting, a lower bit rate. What I've developed is a way to do, believe it or not, single pass and codes with X264. They get a lot of the same benefits as CRF, and it's through a very simple little option that you pass to X264. It's called Rate Tolerance Equals Infinite.

You get a fixed bit rate, single pass encode that behaves like a CRF encode. It looks a lot like what iTunes is doing. It occasionally runs into some of the same quality oops', but not nearly as many.

Guy: That's cool.

Don: I can record a Blu-Ray on average in real time on my iMac that way.

Guy: That's pretty impressive.

Don: Yeah.

Guy: That is interesting.

Don: If you ever want to waste another two hours talking about encoding, boy can I bore you, because I've done a lot of things.

Rene: It's a date.

Don: Yeah, it's a date.

Guy: Perfect.

[cuts off]

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If you watch a lot of YouTube videos on your iPhone or iPad, you've probably already found that there aren't a lot of options if you don't fancy the official YouTube app. I've always felt it wasn't very full featured and by a happy mistake, stumbled across Tuber+ for iPhone and iPad last week. Not only does it have the same features of the official YouTube app, but adds even more that many regular YouTube users want.

For starters, Tuber+ allows you to set default video quality, a feature that is lacking in the official app. Obviously, if a video isn't available in the quality option you've chosen, it'll just stream in what's available. You'll also notice that videos that are available in HD will say so by an icon in the upper right hand corner.

When looking at Tuber+ from a UI point of view, it's got a great layout that's easy to use and navigate around. Tapping the menu button in the upper left hand corner will slide out the main menu which will allow you to log in to your YouTube account if you aren't already. Underneath that you can view your own videos, subscriptions, your watch later list, and all the rest of the usual suspects.

When it comes to actually playing video, Tuber+ streams video quickly and efficiently. Tapping on any video within a playlist or a topic will take you to a summary screen. You'll see the video description and have the option to view comments, leave a comment, and view related videos. To play a video, just tap on the play button. It'll natively load inside the window but tapping the maximize button will bring it to full screen. From the video summary screen you also have the option to add it to your watch later list, add to favorites, add to a playlist, or subscribe to that channel. And of course, there's an option for AirPlay on the playback screen as well.

You also have a settings menu in Tuber+ that contains quite a few options to customize the app. You can access it by tapping the gear in the upper right hand corner. Here you can customize search options, including an option to only filter HD videos, as well as some other refinement options. You can also toggle between light and dark themes or choose a default video streaming quality.

The good

• Better interface than the native app
• Search refinements make results a lot more relevant
• Accessing commonly used features such as commenting or adding to playlists or the watch later section are easily accessible
• Native options to share via SMS, email, Twitter, and Facebook

The bad

• It'd be nice if video preview thumbnails were a little smaller so more results filtered on the screen at once instead of having to do so much scrolling

The bottom line

There's only a handful of good YouTube apps out there that are acceptable alternatives to the native app, and Tuber+ is one of them. Everything from the way the app is designed to where controls and playback options are just make sense.

The only thing I'd like to see added in an update is the ability to automatically switch from light to dark themes automatically given the time of day. It's just easier on the eyes and something a lot of users have grown accustomed to liking. It's definitely not a deal breaker though.

• $1.99 - [Download Now](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tuber?at=10l3Vy&ct=UUimUdUnU18132 -for-youtube/id555919650?mt=8&at=10l3Vy&ct=d_im)

The videography iPhone app Givit Video Editor has been significantly updated with a Video Stream, making it a very social video sharing app. You can discover new videos from the popular feed, browse by category, and follow your friends. Just like other social services, you can also like and comment on videos.

Other features of Givit includes an extremely easy and streamlined editing process. You simply highlight sections of video while it plays making it easy to include multiple clips. Givit also allows you to add motion effects, music, transitions, titles and photos.

You can also upload your videos to Givit cloud for permanent storage. Givit offers 5 GB of storage for free and premium packages for avid users.

Givit is like Instagram for videos. Check it out.

• Free - Download now

iOS has experienced its fair share of privacy fiascos over the last few years. From user locations being tracked , to Address Book data being exposed, to full on malware in the App Store, privacy and security concerns over iOS are very much a reality. Two components often overlooked are your iPhone’s camera and microphone.

Apple has always required apps request permission to access a user’s location and to send them push notifications. More recently we’ve seen things like Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders added to the list of resources that apps have to explicitly get permission to access. In iOS 6, Apple went as far as to give Privacy its own category in the Settings app. So we should be covered now, right? Well, maybe not.

As platforms evolve and new functionality and trends arise, implications for privacy and security constantly need to be re-evaluated. One of the more recent trends is an increasing number of apps moving in to the second screen market. Rather than strictly using iPhones and iPads as primary devices, functionality is now being explored where these devices becomes an accessory; a secondary device to supplement a primary device like a TV. Large media companies like Fox, CBS, TBS and HBO, sports networks and game makers are among the many who are actively trying to engage their audiences by providing additional content to mobile devices. So how does this technology work?

Whether a viewer is on the east coast, west coast, or in another country, and whether they’re watching a show live or on their DVR, the app has to be able to deliver the relevant content at the appropriate time. In order to do this, the application makes use of audio fingerprinting, much like the technology that apps like Shazam use to figure out what song you’re listening to. An algorithm is used to generate a hash that serves as a fingerprint for a given timeframe of audio. This hash can then be compared against hashes calculated by a remote server. Once the application identifies where the viewer is in the broadcast based on their hash, it is able to determine which content should be displayed to the user for their current time.

In order to generate these hashes, an app needs access to your device’s microphone. When you’re in an application that is trying to sync second screen data, the app is continually recording audio from your device’s microphone in order to generate audio fingerprints. Mind you, this doesn’t just mean whatever sound is coming from your TV, but also conversations you might be having with friends, or your dog barking in the background, or music you have playing in another room. Just think about that for a minute.

What’s strange here is that iOS does not require applications to get a user’s permission before doing this. Any app can record audio and transmit it to their servers at any time without asking you. Most applications will display some type of notice that audio syncing is about to begin, but this is because for legitimate apps, they usually want to explain the experience and give the user instructions like turning up the volume on their TV and making sure their device’s microphone is clear. What about a nefarious app? It could start recording audio as soon as it is launched without any additional user interaction. Similarly, there is nothing preventing an application from taking photos or recording video from your device’s camera. While iOS requires apps to obtain permission to access the camera roll for saving photos and videos to it, there’s nothing stopping a malicious application from recording photos or videos and saving them within the application or sending them to a server, without asking the user. Apps like this aren’t unheard of on other platforms; OS X, Android, and Windows have all seem their share.

So what could Apple be doing? Currently iOS turns the status bar red when an application is recording audio, but apps can control the status bar while running, so this can’t be relied on. A small light could be added to the front of the iPhone that turns on when audio or video are being recorded, like MacBooks have. Apple could also add the microphone and camera to iOS’ privacy settings, require applications to get a user’s permission before accessing either of them, and give users the ability to revoke this access on a per-application basis at any time. A request in Apple’s bug reporting tool for this last feature was recently closed as a duplicate, indicating at least one other developer would also like to see this functionality added.

In the meantime, there’s not much users can do to protect themselves. The more adventurous folks among us may try spying on apps with tools like Charles Proxy or PhoneView to look for any suspicious activity or files. Perhaps Clueful will even consider adding detection for such practices to their service and add the results to their app reports. Of course if you’re really concerned and want a solution immediately, a few pieces of strategically placed electrical tape may help to put your mind at ease.

Earlier today Twitter launched a new service and app named Vine. It was a purchase rather than something homegrown, and sits mostly on its own. I'd be tempted to explain the relationship of Twitter and Vine in similar terms to Facebook and Instagram, but frankly Vine is nowhere nearly as good yet.

Phil Nickinson from Android Central has already shared his thoughts on Vine. Here are mine.

The idea behind Vine has a lot of potential. You get to easily make concise video clips and just as easily share them with your friends. It's the implementation where Vine falls all over itself. To go back to Instagram, Vine took the square format but didn't take any of the user experience lessons.

It's almost as though Vine has gone out of its way to make the app and the service less compelling to use. It starts with sign-in. The process isn't bad, and you can sign in with Twitter, but it's just a little more cumbersome than it ought to be. The existing Vine system was bought but the integration not improved.

To take a video, tap the Camera button at the top right. Then touch the screen to start recording. To pause, you stop touching. There's no simple record/stop button like on the built-in Camera app, or on real video cameras. And... I'm not sure about it yet. If you're going to replace something so default, so well understood, so instantly discoverable, you have to do it with something far, far, better. This doesn't seem much, if any better. Sure, it's fast to touch/untouch, but it's also fiddly and more error prone than a simple switch.

You can't change to the front facing camera, making self-video, one of the hallmarks of quick internet sharing services, awkward and painful to shoot. Likewise, you can't upload existing video, so you can't even use the built-in Camara app to take self-video. And you can't share moments you've captured using apps outside of Vine, which is absolutely table-stakes for a social sharing app.

The square aspect ratio video gets stored in your Camera Roll, which Vine then needs permission to access. (Along with Location permission, Twitter permission, push notification permission, and various other permissions, so be sure to properly stretch out your "OK" tapping finger before you begin.)

Once the video is recorded, you can share it. But if you do, it's public. No protected accounts like on Twitter. Once it's out, it's out for the whole wide world. Vine is rated 12+, and given the 500px app getting rejected for "pornography", both Twitter and Apple are likely monitoring it carefully. Still, be aware and conduct yourself accordingly. No reason to lose that big job in 10 years just because you Vine'd your nethers in ought 13.

You can view videos in the timeline, called Home. They auto-play the moment you scroll down enough for them to fit on the screen. Tap to pause. Tap to keep playing. You can like videos with a smiley face or add a comment. There also an Explore section where you can find recommended videos, sorted by Editor's Picks, Popular Now, All Posts, or by #hastags, represented by big square icons.

Activity shows likes, comments, and follows. And Profile shows your info and videos. You can access Settings from here, and also Find People. You should be able to find and follow friends you have on Twitter, Facebook, and in your contacts on Vine, but it wasn't working for me, returning only a few results and forcing me to search and add people manually. Worse still, we've gotten some reports of user account mix up and cross-posts, which is a huge bug and needs to be fixed and now.

The server side stuff can be quickly and easily fixed, however. The user experience choices will likely require a major redesign, and that takes time. Twitter has some fantastic designers and coders on their team, so hopefully the acquisition not only gives them great underlying video technology, but gives the Vine team resources to make a better app.

Make the Twitter integration absolutely transparent. If I use Twitter, I can use Vine just by logging in. All my Twitter follows are just there. Let me switch cameras between rear- and front-facing. Let me upload videos I've already shot. Give me a real shutter button and make the gesture a shortcut, not the main control. Use Twitter conventions, like the same tabs with the same names along the bottom. Consistency is usability. Take a look at what really works in Instagram and Twitter and use that. Make it great.

For now, Vine is interesting but nowhere nearly fully cooked yet. I won't be spending any time with it until 1.x or 2.0 is released, but I will be coming back to take another look as soon as they are.

Don't forget to read Phil's piece on Android Central and watch his video, below. If you've tried Vine, let me know your thoughts as well.

• Free - Download Now

Givit Video Highlighter is an app that lets you take all the videos you shoot on your iPhone or have stored in Dropbox or SkyDrive, stitch them together, add transitions, effects, and music, and easily share the finished movie with the people you care about. In other words, Givit Video Highlighter lets you take great moments and turn them into great movies. And now they've released version 1.4.0., which comes complete with Twitter and Twitter card support, a simpler, better trimming interface, fade out effects, and a new plus button to add even more clips and color breaks while editing.

If you're already a Givit user, grab the update in the App Store. If you're not, grab the free app now and give it a try:

• Free - Download now

What's more, the awesome folks are VMIX Media are so happy with the update, they want to celebrate by giving a lucky iMore reader the chance to win a brand new iPad mini of their very own.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling VMIX which Givit Video Highlighter feature, past or present, is your absolute favorite. That's it!

The iPhone 5 is not only equipped with an iSight camera with an f/2.4 lens that takes great 8 megapixel pictures, but also records incredible 1080p HD video as well. The FaceTime camera has also been improved and will finally record 720p HD video. Of all the improvements to video recording with the iPhone 5, however, the ability to take photos while simultaneously shooting video is definitely the cherry on top.

To see examples of the iPhone 5's cameras in action, check out the video above! Then follow along for my full review of the iPhone 5 video cameras.

Video recording with the iPhone 5

One of the noticeable changes you'll see when recording video with the iPhone 5 is that the UI has been adjusted to take advantage of the screen's 16:9 aspect ratio. The video you're recording will completely fill the screen and all your controls will appear as transparent buttons so that you can see everything that's being recorded. While recording video, there are only 3 items on the screen, the record button, the elapsed time, and a new button for taking pictures.

Simultaneously recording video and taking photos with the iPhone 5

One of the special features of the iPhone 5 is the ability to take photos while simultaneously shooting 1080p HD video. To do so, simply tap the camera icon while recording video. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the camera shutter was very fast even when recording video at the same time. As is demonstrated in the video, it's super easy to rapidly take photos while recording video.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there is a minor catch. The resolution of the photos you take while recording video will be less than those taken in photo mode. Specifically, photos taken with the still camera are 3264x 2448px (4:3 ratio), but the photos captured while recording video are 1920x1080px (16:9 ratio).

Personally, I have opted out of recording video in the past because I didn't want to miss out on a great photo, but now that I can take photos while recording video, that'll never happen again. I'm not concerned with the loss of resolution because the photos I'll be taking while recording video are meant for memories and sharing online, so 1920px wide is good enough. I'd rather have lower-resolution photos while recording video than no photos while recording video.

Front facing camera quality of the iPhone 5

Although the main iSight camera on the iPhone 5 didn't receive any big upgrades in quality, the front-facing camera has greatly improved. For the first time, the iPhone's FaceTime camera now records in 720p HD video. It's definitely not as good as the rear-facing iSight camera, but compared to it's predecessor, the new FaceTime camera does a phenomenal job. In the past, I've just recorded myself with the rear-facing camera even though I couldn't see myself just because I hated the poor quality of the front-facing camera. Not anymore. If I need to record myself talking to the camera, I'll use the front-facing camera from here on out.

Low-light video recording with the iPhone 5

A big weakness of every iPhone's video camera has been the quality of video that was recorded in low-light scenarios. Unfortunately, but as expected, this continues to be a weakness with the iPhone 5. Although special situations, like the clip of the burning candle, can produce stunning results, everyday poor indoor lighting will result in low-quality, grainy videos. You can still capture memories, but the quality won't be anything to brag about.

The bottom line

The iPhone 5 may not have received a huge boost in quality over the iPhone 4S, but since the iPhone 4S does a great job at recording 1080p HD video, that's ok. The beauty is that the same great quality is delivered in a much thinner package. Additionally, the larger screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio improves upon the video recording experience. Although the rear-facing iSight camera didn't receive significant improvements over the iPhone 4S, including in low-light, there's no denying that the front-facing FaceTime camera on the iPhone 5 blows the iPhone 4S away. Of all the changes, however, my absolute favorite is the ability to take photos while recording video.

The iPhone 5 is simply the best portable video camera I've ever owned.

The recently announced iPhone 5 is going to sport new and improved cameras that allow you to take Panorama images be simply panning across a scene, 40% faster photo capture, better low-light performance, improved noise reduction, enhanced 1080p HD video recording, a front-facing camera that can record 720p HD video, and more.

Take better photos with the iPhone 5

Although the iPhone 5's camera did not receive a bump in megapixels over the iPhone 4S, the new camera does have improved HDR capabilities that will produce better color and tone and reduce motion blur. Apple also claims that the quality of photographs taken in low light have improved -- but I'll believe that when I see it.

Shoot panorama photos automagically with the iPhone 5

One of the huge new additions to iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 (and iPhone 4S) camera is the new panorama feature that lets you capture up to 240 degrees of scenery. The gyroscope, new A6 chip, and Camera app all work together to seamlessly create a single shot with a resolution of up to 38 megapixels.

Record better video with the iPhone 5

Just like the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 is equipped with the ability to shoot 1080p HD video, but Apple boasts that the iPhone 5 camera will let in more light, creating brighter videos. The auto white balance and noise reduction have also been improved, and image stabilization is still included, of course.

Take photos while recording video with the iPhone 5

One of the great new features of the Camera app that is exclusive to the iPhone 5 is the ability to take still images while simultaneously recording 1080p HD video. I'm personally very excited about this because I often choose not to record video because I don't want to miss the opportunity for a good photo.

Better video compression with the iPhone 5

With the iPhone 5, you'll be able to record the same high-quality 1080p HD video as with the iPhone 4S, but the iPhone 5 is equipped with better compression algorithms making the file sizes 20% smaller. This means it'll be faster to email or send via MMS.

Built from Sapphire Crystal

The surface of the iPhone 5's iSight camera is made out of sapphire crystal making it, well, crystal clear. But in addition to clarity, sapphire crystal offer a hardness level that is second only to diamond on the scale of transparent materials. What does this mean for you? The lens is much less likely to scratch.

iPhone 5 features a FaceTime HD camera

It wasn't only the rear-facing iSight camera on the iPhone 5 that got a boost -- the front-facing FaceTime camera is now finally capable of 720 HD video recording. I've always avoided using the front-facing camera like the plague, but hopefully it won't be too bad, now. Additionally, FaceTime Video calls are also possible over a cellular connection without WiFi, but availability is up to the carriers.

Your thoughts on the iPhone 5's new camera?

So there's a quick recap of the new features of the iPhone 5's camera. What do you think? What are you most excited about? Personally, the ability to automagically take panoramic photos is very exciting to me, but even more exciting is the ability to take photos while recording video.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Apple recently removed the official built-in YouTube app from iOS 6 and just as we expected, Google has fired back by releasing their own version of YouTube for iPhone into the App Store -- and it's so much better than the original version provided by Apple.

YouTube for iPhone features a left sidebar where you can access your channel, the channels you're subscribed to, and all the YouTube generated feeds including Popular and category-specific streams. Each feed has a very clean, image heavy look. The videos are displayed with a still from the video with its length in a little black box in the lower right corner and labeled by the title of the video, the channel name, and the number of views the video has received.

When you select a video to watch, you'll be taken to the video page and it will immediately start playing at the top of the screen. To switch to full-screen, simply rotate to landscape orientation. If you tap on the video, two toolbars will appear: one on top and one on bottom. From these bars you can give the video a thumbs up/down, play and pause, switch to (or out of) fullscreen, or share with AirPlay. You can also add the video to Watch Later, Favorites, a Playlist, or flag it. Lastly, each video can be shared to Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Email, Message, or Clipboard.

In portrait mode, you'll see three tabs below the video: Now Playing, Suggested, and Comments. The Now Playing section shows the description of the video, the number of views, likes and dislikes, and the ability to subscribe to the user (if you aren't already). The Suggested tab shows a feed of videos that YouTube recommends based on the current video you are watching, and the Comments tab is where you go to read and leave comments. Unfortunately, you cannot reply to specific comments, nor can you give them a thumbs up/down.

One thing that is notably missing from YouTube for iPhone is the ability to upload videos to your account. This is actually rather surprising to me, but as far as we know, Apple has not removed the ability to share videos from your Camera Roll to YouTube, so that's at least good news. Still, it would be great for YouTube to include the functionality in their app because they may be able to include a better interface with more options.

As of right now, YouTube is only available natively on the iPhone, but hopefully Google makes it a universal app for both the iPhone and iPad soon.

The good

• Great UI
• View home feed or stream for any channel
• View YouTube generated feeds include Popular and all the categories
• Leave comments
• See suggested/related videos to the video you're currently watching
• Subscribe to channels
• Share to to Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Email, Message, or Clipboard
• Add videos to Watch Later, Favorites, a Playlist, or Flag
• Voice search
• AirPlay support

The bad

• Can't upload videos
• Can't log into multiple accounts
• Can't rate comments with a thumbs up/down
• Can't reply to specific comments
• Not universal for the iPhone and iPad

The bottom line

The new YouTube for iPhone app is an excellent replacement to the outdated app Apple originally restricted iPhone users to. Many users were outraged when the news hit that the YouTube app was removed, but this move has proven to be much better for users -- and kudos to Google to making YouTube available in the App Store before iOS 6 is even available to the general public.

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