New Year Resolutions, the weather and I wish I’d had a camera.

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
Charles D. Warner
And then there’s one of those "I wish I'd had a camera" moments…
 
I bet you thought Mark Twain said that about the weather…I did too, but after a bit of googling, I find it isn't clear whether it was Twain, or his friend Charles D. Warner.
As for the camera quote, I bet everyone says that sometime or another.
It happens that I just got a couple of interesting things to try out, just as I was wondering what I’d write about in this column. As a result,  my list of resolutions includes having a camera and paying more attention to the weather…in lots of places I might add.
First, I now have a fun to use, WeatherDirect which gives me easy access to the same quality weather as meteorologists 24 hours-a-day without turning on a TV or a computer! It works without Wi-Fi, there's NO software to install, and the forecasts are totally FREE. NO subscription required. The wireless display features a large LCD with E.L. backlight for easy nighttime viewing, automatic time and date, time alarm with snooze, indoor temperature and forecasts for the daily high and low temperature. The display can be set for one location with the option of adding 4 additional locations for a subscription price. The web page has details of a number of other options including weather alerts that you can subscribe to.
Choose a forecast from a list of over 40,000 locations in the United States and Canada including your hometown, golf courses, parks, sports venues and more. Best part of this is you can change the location as many times as you like.
(View the location list here: www.weatherdirect.com/places)
The included wireless outdoor temperature sensor sends your outdoor temperature to the display. 

A wireless range of 330 Ft allows you to put the display almost anywhere you desire.
The display screens feature full forecasts for the next two, three, or four days, plus forecasts for morning, afternoon, evening and night.
The setup is really easy; the weather gateway connects to your network router with the included LAN cable to send secure wireless forecasts to the display, 24 hours a day without turning on a TV or computer. 

A wireless range of 330 feet allows you to put the display device almost anywhere you want.    A PC is only required for one-time, easy set-up or to customize features. (High-speed Internet and network router are required.)
The display screens feature full forecasts for the next two, three, or four days, plus forecasts for morning, afternoon,

evening and night.          
High-speed Internet access and a network router are required. Easy web-based set up allows you to select the forecast location and other information for the display. Once the simple set up is complete, the system works automatically without a computer. You can login at any time to customize your options. Amazon had this for $104.  I’m tempted to say this is all so easy even a caveman can do it…but you know how cranky those fellows get!

So, to stay out of trouble with those fellows…the next interesting thing I have been trying out is, according to Business Week,  “…so easy to shoot video and upload it to a PC or YouTube that even a child can use it.” Of course, that doesn’t leave me much room for excuses, but fortunately, with the Pure Digital Technologies, Flip Mino HD, the World’s smallest HD Camcorder, that’s not a problem.   To get a sense of the size of this little gem, note the thumb at the bottom left corner! That was a picture of it at the top of column, but look at this, a side view of it,  pretty small, isn’t it?   

Those of you who remember that I wrote about the Flip Ultra a year ago in October will recall I said it was a really a big improvement at that time. Now, with this tiny form HD model they have, in my opinion, set the standard once again. Take a look at how the small space is used for pretty much everything you need to take the video, transfer it, edit it and save it.
  You can see why it takes little or no time to start using it. Don’t be surprised if you are asked what kind of cell phone it is as it does look a lot like an iPhone type. If you are used to filming with a standard size camcorder, you will have to get used to using such a small size one. One of the few things I wish they had included is image stabilization. It takes a bit of practice to hold it really steady, specially if you are shooting a video of your favorite pet. I notice that Amazon is

 selling it with a small tripod included. I already had one, so I attached it to the tripod mount on the bottom.   This makes taking a steady shot a lot easier and works well if you want to shoot a scene at a party or a dinner for instance.
Measuring only 1.5 inches corner to corner, the screen on the MinoHD is tiny. The strips at the top and bottom of the video give you data on how much recording time is left, if you're recording or not, how long this recording is, and a battery indicator. The screen is a viewfinder, showing what you're recording as you record it, however, the Flip Mino HD is not designed for filming yourself. Turning the device towards you is a bit of a guessing game without someone else around to tell you how the shot looks.

The speakers on either side of the screen do a pretty good job for playback, but there is no jack for a headset, so your other options for audio are to watch on either your PC or use the included composite video cable to connect to your TV. BTW, because this takes HD video, blowing it up on a TV screen is pretty impressive and you can hardly detect any loss of quality.
The reason to get this camera is for the quality. For you tech-minded folks: it produces a razor-sharp 720p-resolution image. That works out to about 1280 x 720 pixels in a 16:9 cinematic widescreen. When you play your images back on the 1.5-inch no-glare screen on the back of the camera, you can’t notice much of a difference.

But flip the side switch and up pops a USB connector. Plug that into your PC or Mac and the camera automatically installs its own software. Then play the video back on your computer screen. 
The new minoHD is, like previous models, a beauty in simplicity. There are minimal controls, all flat and recessed. A big red record button, a play/stop button to watch your videos, touch-sensitive forward and backward arrows for rewind or fast forward, a delete button, and plus and minus buttons for operating the 2X digital zoom.

There is no tape. All is recorded on flash memory. You can record up to an hour of HD video and audio on the minoHD. Make it as one very long movie or break it up into as many clips as you want.

When you’re done with it or have transferred the video to your computer or burned to a DVD or e-mailed it to friends, hit the touch-sensitive trash icon and it deletes the clip.                                                    

Now comes the fun part: take a bunch of separate shots and then make them into a movie. You pick the clips you want, drag and drop them into the order you want and the Flip stitches them together, using dissolves to separate the clips and create a very well done long-playing movie.

The FlipShare software even lets you put in background music, using loops that are included with the software or even music you have stored on your PC.
And with a single click of the button, you can send clips or movies to friends via e-mail or have the software automatically post it on YouTube and other video sharing sites.

It also does a great job of capturing single frames from your video for photos.

Here is one of Pooky that came from a video taken in low light:   If you would like to see some examples of the kind of video this camcorder takes, send me an e-mail and I’ll send you a clip or two.

The Flip minoHD runs off built-in lithium-ion batteries that recharge by plugging the camera into the computer’s USB port. On the one hand, that means there’s no charger that you have to keep track of. On the other hand, that means you can’t just swap out some AA’s when you run out of power. I didn’t do a scientific check on the battery’s capacity, but I never had a problem with it running out…one obvious reason for this is every time you plug it in to your USB port, it charges as well as doing all the other things. Here is what the flipshare menu looks like:  

Remember, all this software is built into the camera so you can use it on any PC or MAC by just plugging it in.
By the way, if you order the Mino HD at theflip.com, you can get it custom-painted with hundreds of designs
Like this one:                                                                                                                            

Another interesting plus…you can upload your own graphic or photo and if you offer it to the public, each time someone orders one with your design, you earn $10! There are so many great things you can do with this little gem, I could spend another page or two, but of course there are those purists who would say this isn’t really a camcorder (like the top of the line ones that can cost $1000) but I can only say, IMHO,  if you get one my bet is you’ll fall in love with it.

One last reminder of it’s size:       I checked the price on Amazon with free shipping, it goes for $203, but then you don't get a chance to design your own...oh well!
Have fun with all the goodies you got for Christmas, but always remember to be careful out there on the WEB. Happy New Year! Aloha, Lou