Interesting

23 articles in this category

Vaam.io - the screen recording tool that streamlines communication screen recording
Vaam.io is a Swedish “video as a message” service that was started by Josef Fallesen, Hampus Persson and Gohar Avagyan that I worked with on the H&M project. Vaam is a very easy to use service that has a lot to offer, even though it is still very new and under rapid development.
I first noticed Vaam.io on LinkedIn and since Gohar is an amazing designer I looked into it. What I found was a service that is incredibly simple to use, yet very powerful. It has a lot of potential and I will make use of it here on the site as soon as I figure out the best way to use it. I have some ideas on how to implement it, but there are some technical issues I need to figure out first. This is on my end though, not with Vaam.
So, what does Vaam do? Simply put it allow you to record yourself while interacting with whatever you have on your screen. So it can be used as a presentation or as a quick message as you can link directly from your Vaam library.
Once you have recorded a message, then you have several options already, and more are on the way. You can download the video of course as well as sharing the recording in multiple ways. One interesting feature is to link as a Gif for emails and things like that.
In order to use Vaam today you need to install an app that is currently only available for Chrome. Once installed you simply click a button and start recording. Once done your recording is automatically added to your library and you can share it or delete it if you did not like it.
As with all startups the team behind Vaam are very active, and they have invited people to a Vaam slack where the so called Vaambassadors provide feedback and discuss features with the team.
I think Vaam have a bright future ahead and Vaam.io and the team have secured plenty of funds already.

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Interesting
November 17, 2020
0 comments
612 views
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Apple Special Event. September 10, 2019. apple event
Apple hosted it's special event on September 10th at the Steve Jobs theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. As expected it announced some new products, but as so often lately the presentation was dull and not very innovative.
The iPhone 11 and it's iPhone 11 pro version quickly became a meme with the 3 lenses that I have to say I think look ugly. We had the same hardware improvements as always, but nothing really worth upgrading for. Especially if you prefer a system camera anyway.
The new iPad is nice of course, but the big reason why it is interesting is because of the iPadOS coming at the end of September. Apple watch series 5 got it's always on functionality and we saw some new designs, but other than that it was not really anything I was excited about.
With Apple Arcade and AppleTv+ we see Apple moving towards the game and movie industry. This could be nice, but the question is how they will fight giants like Steam and Netflix for example. For me I don't care about Apple Arcade as I don't play much these days. AppleTv+ I will get for sure, if nothing else to test out and see how it stacks against other newcomers like Disney+.
Overall this special event was flat and boring. No new innovations and just the same old same of upgraded hardware. For me, even though I am a huge Apple fan, there is absolutely nothing in this event that i want to get my hands on. AppleTv+ would be the exception, but then again it is a service and not a device. this has been the case for quite a while now to be honest.
While I did get myself an iPad Pro and the new apple pencil, the only things I look forward to lately are the software upgrades. I feel that you can really tell how Apple is slowing down it's innovation pace and I hope that will change soon. Here is the keynote in case you missed it.
 

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Interesting
September 11, 2019
0 comments
477 views
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France is trying to get Google to pay for links to their news articles link license
France is trying to use an already confusing and illogical Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market to force Google to pay for links to news articles for french news papers. As expected Google has responded that they will simply remove the news snippets in question to avoid any license fee's. That did not sit well with France who are now trying to sue Google.
To me it is amazing how these things keep popping up from countries like France, Germany and Spain. Anyone who understand Internet and how search engines work would see that asking a service provider to pay for providing service is backwards. For some reason this does not seem to resonate with certain people when dealing with copyright and especially media.
As France now have taken the Directive to become law in France they somehow had the hubris to think that Google, or any search engine for that matter, would actually pay for doing the french news the favor of highlighting their content and drive traffic to them. Naturally Google followed this new law by simply removing the content that require legal fees. For some reason this apparently was surprising to the French, even if the Germans have already tried this and failed miserably.
So what are they arguing about really? Well, it is the so called "rich links", or rich snippets where you will see a small image, the title of the article and a short text. In a blog post from Google they have responded with how they will handle this according to the new law in France.

This has made the French cultural minister Franck Riester angry. For some reason he actually thought that Google would actually start paying for helping the media companies to get quality traffic to their sites. It is illogical in so many ways that I do not think he really understand what Google do or how Copyright works.
If you hold copyright over something you should of course have the control of how others use your creative work, or even if they are allowed to. There is nothing strange about that. It is also in everyone's right to not use or reference that same creative work if I do not want to. That is how Copyright works.
Google is a service provider who collect information about websites and create a database over those sites to make them searchable. This is a free service that anyone can use and as you know Google is not the only search engine you can use. Google make money by allowing advertisement on the search result pages.
So what France now have done is that have made it illegal so show image and text previews in the rich snippets presented in search results. This is done by invoking the right to control Copyrighted material, which is well within their right. What they do not understand is that Google have the right to choose not to infringe on that same copyright by changing what they display in the results.
For some reason France want to force Google to infringe on Copyrighted material so they can be fined for doing so. That is illogical as you are basically forcing criminal behavior by legislation. That is an act that by itself should be illegal if forced, but it seems that Franck Riester do not understand that very simple concept.
We will see how this farce plays out in it's absurdity and I predict that the french media will suffer the same way as their German counterparts did previously. They had to make good with Google and give them permission to present the links without paying, which made that lawsuit pretty useless. I think the french will have the same experience and it's strange that they do not understand this from previous experiments like this.
What do you think?

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Interesting
October 25, 2019
0 comments
433 views
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The Mandalorian: one of the most pirated series ever? illegal download
Tomorrow Disney plus will launch and with it comes the much hyped series The Mandalorian. I am very positive to the Disney plus service that I will most likely get as soon as it is available. The fact that most of the world can NOT get the Disney plus service tomorrow however will probably lead to the fact that The Mandalorian will be heavily pirated as there is no other way to see this series.
I have never understood the concept of time gating movies or tv series based on geography. It is a strange practice, especially in the digital age where geography matters very little. It is a practice that has always been the source of piracy, even back in the days of the WHS and cassette tapes. While I am sure there are legal reasons for it, rather than simple greed, it does cause some interesting situations.
One of the strongest arguments when dealing with piracy is that illegally downloading a movie for example, or a tv show, is that by doing so you cause financial loss from the company that own the right to sell those. It's a logical claim, although the idea that everyone who download illegally also would have purchased the item is a ridiculous one. 
Now, with time gated content such as the exclusive content coming with Disney plus the question is if this scenario will be a bit different. If you take for Sweden where I live we supposedly can get access to Disney plus sometime early next year. So if anyone in Sweden download The Mandalorian tomorrow will that change any legal claim?
No one in Sweden can purchase a legal right to see The Mandalorian at this time. This means that until the Disney plus service is available no damage can be done to sales in Sweden. Any legal claim would have to be towards future sales. This can be difficult because Disney plus does not exist in Sweden and it would be a theoretical value on how much illegally downloading one or more episodes would impact potential sales.
That is a tricky claim to make and since there is no official statement that Sweden will even get Disney plus at any specific date it could make the case even weaker. That would mean that at the time of the illegal download there was no guarantee that The Mandalorian would be ever be available legally in that country. I am not sure if that would have an impact on the legality, but I am sure it is something that a good defense attorney would throw in to see if it works.
I think a more likely scenario is that a legal claim would be done after the launch of Disney plus in the countries not included in the first release. Again this poses a bit of an issue as without history in that country any claim of loss of income will be theoretically.  I know that all claims regarding illegal downloads are theoretical and, in my opinion, based on a flawed logic and a complete misunderstanding of basic consumption of movies and TV shows. In these cases however there are statistics going back decades to back those claims.
For Disney plus however it is a brand new service with no history to back up legal claims of loss of income. Sure they can look at other streaming services, but what other service are can Disney plus compare with? Netflix? HBO? None of those are really similar and even those services are very new with little history to back up a potential claim.
For me I am fine waiting a few months until Disney plus comes to Sweden, but a lot of people will not. Just like for many Manga lovers there are few if any legal means to consume The Mandalorian. This will unfortunately mean that The Mandalorian will be pirated a lot for the majority of the world that can not yet get Disney plus.
Hopefully this will not be a problem for anyone and perhaps it can even be a very strong selling point. Illegal downloads are not exactly very consumer friendly so if someone have the option to go through the hassle of downloading or just click on the TV, my bet is on the later.  I just wish Disney would stop using obsolete sales tactics where they divide content based on region and time. That way this would not be an issue.
There would be other issues however such as technical and legal issues that they probably hope to ease out with a gradual release schedule. There are of course financial issues also where they probably want to use a successful launch in the US as a way to increase prices elsewhere.
Still it sucks that I can not watch The Mandalorian tomorrow or enjoy what I suspect will be a great experience coming with Disney plus.
 

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Interesting
November 11, 2019
0 comments
612 views
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The all-new Spark Email is here email
Spark Email is a popular email app and yesterday they announced their "all-new" version. It comes with a new design, Avatars, Customizable Email Actions, and Dark Mode. Overall it is a pretty nice upgrade that make me take another look at Spark after testing it a while back.
"The all-new Spark raises the bar for a modern email experience, introducing a completely Overhauled Design, a personalized toolbar with Customizable Email Actions on iOS,  a stunning new Dark Mode for iPhones, iPads & Android devices, and a lot more."
 

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Interesting
November 21, 2019
0 comments
452 views
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