Video and screencasting

When my doorbell goes ding dong and the dogs go crazy, the last thing I want to do (aside from shushing my beasts) is actually talk to the person at the door who I probably didn't even want to talk to in the first place. Unless it's the pizza guy.

Fortunately, a Wi-Fi-enabled doorbell called DoorBot could make the mystery of a random household visitor a thing of the past. The $169 high-tech door device features a built-in camera (with infrared for nighttime support) that captures live video of the person who presses the button. From there, a notification pops up on the owner's device that gives the option to display the video feed on the app (works with iOS and Android tablets and smartphones).… Read more

With the integration of touch technology into Windows, you might have expected Microsoft to have basic gesture commands built into its native video players, especially when touting the surface tablet. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Not to worry, however, as Invisible Controls Video Player is here to save the day!

Supporting most major file formats, Invisible Control lets you configure commands to the action of your choice. This will allow you to easily control your device, including rewinding, fast forwarding, adjusting the volume, or jumping to the next video on the playlist. The average user probably wouldn't find … Read more

If you're going to be buying (or receiving) a new iOS device over the holidays, you're going to want to grab the hottest apps to see what the App Store has to offer. But with close to 750,000 apps available, it can be a bit daunting to figure out which ones to choose.

To get you started, I put together a list of apps that include both all-time hits and up-and-coming new software. Each of these is available for iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and give you a sampling of what your new iOS device can do.… Read more

If you are a user of Apple's Final Cut Pro video editing software, you may be pleased that Apple has released an update that adds some nice enhancements to the package.

Some notable additions to the software are its support for dual viewers that have separate scope displays which allow you to better match aspects of frames. The program also now provides flexible clip connections which keeps your various connected clips and snippets together when you move them around in the storyline.

The entire set of enhancements to the program includes the following:

Uploading a YouTube video causes it to be converted to the format used for streaming by the service. If you ever lose your videos, you could always grab the converted versions from the YouTube site, but what if you want the originals?

Google Takeout is now offering the ability to download the original versions of your videos, as mentioned by the Google Data Liberation blog. Takeout allows you to export data like settings, groups, or photos from Google's other Web sites and services.

Unfortunately, you can only download all videos together at this time. There's no option to … Read more

Long known for its DVD/media playback (PowerDVD) and disc authoring (Power2Go) tools, CyberLink also publishes a full suite of consumer-level photo- and video-editing software that includes powerful technology. In an exclusive release for Download.com, CyberLink's two flagship editing programs -- PhotoDirector for photography editing and management; PowerDirector for video editing and effects -- update to versions 4 and 11, respectively, including a new version of PhotoDirector for Mac. The company is also introducing two new video-production tools for audio -- CyberLink AudioDirector -- and color -- CyberLink ColorDirector, as well as a Director Suite that packages them … Read more

Webcams are useful for chatting with family, colleagues, or even a client. However, if you want a Webcam right now and don't have an extra $40 to $80 laying around for one, why not use your Android device instead?

You won't need to worry about having a front-facing camera on your device, since this method will employ the use of the rear camera. Though, if you'd like, you can use the front camera if the back one isn't functioning properly (or if you enjoy lower-resolution video?).

Using your Android device as a Webcam will do some … Read more

In the wake of today's iPhone 5 and iPod announcements, Apple has issued updates for iTunes and its iMovie home video-editing software. The updates should be available through Software Update for those who have these programs installed on their systems, but they can also be downloaded as standalone installers from Apple's Web site.

The iTunes update adds support for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices running iOS 6, and also adds support for Apple's latest iPod Nano and Shuffle devices. In addition, the update addresses a memory corruption security bug in WebKit for Windows that could allow … Read more

If you've managed to get your hands on Mountain Lion for Mac, there's a really cool feature called AirPlay Mirroring where you can show your desktop and more on a big screen hooked up to an Apple TV. AirPlay Mirroring is something you might use when you want to show your work at a meeting, show your photos to your family, watch video, and so on, but on an Apple TV-connected big screen. Here's how to do it.

Editors' note:Unfortunately, AirPlay Mirroring only works on Macs made in 2011 or later. For those on older machines … Read more