CNET to the Rescue: Newest video editors

Josh Lowensohn has been using the iPhone 4's iMovie video-editing app, and compares it to the new YouTube editor and old standbys, iMovie for the Mac and Windows Live Movie maker, among other apps. Also, your questions answered. Mostly. We still haven't quite figured out how to ditch cable TV and just use the Internet and game consoles in its place.

Watch this: CNET to the Rescue Ep. 9: The newest video editing apps

35:56

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VIDEO SEGMENT

New editors on the block:

iMovie on iPhone 4 (video link, skip to 1:55).

• Works with photos and videos.
• Has 5 different themes, and transitions
• Can export the file into your filmstrip
• Only works on iPhone 4, though someone got it to work on a 3GS by hacking the application file (which is against Apple's DRM agreement)

YouTube's video editor

• Does all the rendering and storage on Google's servers. Can cut up HD video on something like a netbook
• End result still limited to 11 minutes in length
• Josh did a how-to

Software: Adobe Premier Elements, iMovie, FinalCut Pro

Rafe says: I still like Windows Live Movie Maker, free for Win 7 users

Also, check out this image stabilization program that's saved my bacon: VReveal. I haven't yet tried the Deshaker plugin.

QUESTIONS

Shanksdon: Wondering if you could make recommendation for a good bluetooth, mainly for listening to ipod touch, for stuff like your podcast. I have had many, but they always seem to cut out alot. Thanks.

Rafe: I use Aliph Jawbone with the A2DP update. Works great, but mono only.

Josh: CNET's Donald Bell says he's had good experiences with the Altec Lansing Backbeat 903 headphones, but that there have been reports of glitchy playback. He recommends buying them somewhere where they can be returned just in case it happens to you. There's also the Sony Ericsson in-ear headphones, which are the smallest you'll ever see for Bluetooth headphones, and the Jaybirds, which Donald says "feel a little weird in the ear, but offer good sound."

Recently updated list.

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Derrick from AZ: Please tell me the background to Google's magic and fill me in on the security implications. I bought my 16G iPad with wifi. I take it out of the box, login to my secure network, open Google Maps, say yes when prompted to use current location. Poof, I'm looking at my house in satellite view. Come on! What just happened?

Rafe: You're being geolocated from wifi. There are companies like Skyhook wireless that know which access points are where. They get this data by "wardriving" around and collecting WiFi AP signatures and correlating it w/ GPS. Android phones and some other phones also contribute this data. In fact, most geolocation on smartphones happens over WiFi, since GPS is much slower and doesn't work indoors.

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My laptop was stolen & all my music along with it. Is there some way to copy the music that I synced onto my iPhone 3GS to a different computer? I can't add new music because every time I try to sync music from another computer it gives a warning that the data on the phone will be overwritten. The only backup I have is in Mexico, so short of taking a vacation is there any way to add new songs without losing the old ones?

Josh: This is a very common problem and one with a ton of solutions. If you're a PC user, I'd highly recommend using something called CopyTrans. It's free and restores your playlists, playcounts, and other metadata. It puts all of that right back into iTunes where you're going to want it.

If you're on the Mac, the bad news is that without jailbreaking your phone, there aren't any options we could find that are free of charge. Senuti comes rescommened (that's iTunes backwards by the way). It costs $18, but can be tried out for free for the first 1,000 songs you transfer. There's also TuneAid, which costs $2 and does the same things, plus lets you sync up the same iPhone or iPod with two different iTunes libraries.

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Rodolfo: I'm wondering if there is a solution for a gadget for windows vista or 7 that reports the HDD plus the CPU and/or GPU temperature. It could be as simple as possible I mean text-based only, no graphics or drawings. I'm an overclocker and other programs out there that kinda do this thing need other programs to be installed on the computer. And they're generally not free.

Rafe: Try Speedfan. I run this in the background and use a Windows 7 widget to report the data, but I couldn't find the widget again. So also try Intel's gadget that reports temps.

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Mike: My wife would really like something like the iPad, but she is not fond of the "walled garden" and likes too many flash-based sites. It looks like Google may not do a Chrome tablet in the near future. What do you think of the usability of an Android 2.2-based tablet, say, at least 7" in diagonal, for the kinds of things the iPad seems to be so popular for?

Rafe: We'd recommend an Archos device, but out expert Donald Bell doesn't concur. I'd wait. Or get the iPad.

Josh: Android tablets are not really here yet like you think they are. The Archos one is on the market, but it has its own app marketplace, and cannot run everything that say your Android device could...there's also the problem of finding Android apps that have been built for these screen sizes, and optimized to take advantage of their hardware. The worst thing in my mind is paying a lot of money for an experimental form factor that does not have the app support to back it up.

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COMMENTS

Scott: Hey, I was catching up on cnet to the rescue, and I had a suggestion about that guy's photo sharing thing. Google Wave. It's the ideal use case, they even showed it off at the launch. You drag and drop the photos into a wave about ten at a time. Everybody does, and then they're all in there, and all together, and you can view them all together as a slide show. I think you can download them all with one click, too.

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