Day 9: Devices aplenty

I'm a gadget girl and fascinated by technology that can simplify and organize the mundane everyday. I'm not one to stand in line waiting for the latest iProductX--but I would classify myself as an 'early adopter' and even have a collection of old tech in a display case in my living room that I look at with nostalgia. From my old Handspring visor, to a first generation iPod to the the iPod nano I used to wear as a watch--all represent gadgets that enhanced my experiences during their time. I long for the simplicity that these single-function devices each had (e.g. my Motorola Razr--loved that phone!)--knowing I'd become quickly frustrated when the realization of how inefficient other tasks I take for granted have become.  Today, I regularly use the following:

• iPhone 6

  

  Cherished relics of the past
  

  
  

• iPad mini
• Apple TV
• IBM Thinkpad (work)
• Nikon d70 & Canon Rebel (DSLR)
• Fitbit / Aria scale (fitness)
• Sonos (audio)

Double-Edged Sword: Social is Everywhere
My tech cocktail has been an easy gateway to the world (assuming my internet doesn't go down) and simplified my life in many ways, but this 'Analog' experiment has made me realize how difficult muting social streams is. They are part of the fabric of the multiple gadgets I use daily--not just my phone--and certainly are not limited to personal interactions (tons of work use too.) The brightly glowing notifications on every device have been the siren song to keep hyper-connected. (An unexpected benefit has been my battery life on all these things has been a lot longer since Jan. 1.)

Today's Time Re-allocation: Skating & Videos

Figure skating is one of my favorite things to do--both for exercise & as a hobby. I have a friend in Florida who is an ex-skating pro, and thought it might be good to have her take a look at my scratch spin & provide a few pointers.  I setup my handy iPhone on the rink wall & let it record for 17 minutes & thought I could edit and splice out a few spins for her to evaluate & provide feedback.

Transferring a 17-minute Apple iPhone Video to another device or the cloud is NOT EASY.

You'd think a 17 minute video, shot on an iPhone would be easily transferred and edited in other devices.  Wrong.  If you did it all on the iPhone's tiny screen and came up with 2 minutes or so, sure--no big deal... but editing 17 minutes of footage on a 6 inch screen is a total pain, especially for a forty-something like me. 17 minutes of iPhone video is 2GB, which to transfer to the cloud (iCloud, Dropbox, Airdrop, etc.) takes 10+hours and even to move between iPhone and a PC takes several hours. 

iPhone-a-Friend

I have a friend who is an Apple Distinguished Educator & video production expert, so I reached out to him for help.  He recommended breaking down the movie into 3-5 minute chunks to transfer to my iPad.  After approximately 30 minutes of fooling around on my iPhone, I was able to move the clips in 4 minute pieces to iCloud so that I could edit in iMovie.  

iMovie--the Good, Bad & Ugly

For short clips that don't need a lot of splicing, and for a video less than 5 minutes--I found iMovie to be a great tool. 

• The good: Quick, simple editor -- easy to learn, use & fairly advanced. Ubiquitous to Apple stuff--and on every device I have...and free.
• The bad: If you are shooting / editing on the same device--great, but the speed of file transfer of .mov files and no way to reduce the 17 minute clip to a realistic size to edit between devices is a big limitation and frustrating for the simple task I was attempting.
• The ugly: iMovie has different functionality based upon device (even though we're all on the same iOS/iMovie version).  On my iPad, there was no way to speed clips past 1x, yet on my iPhone and my friend's iPad it was an option. 

What did I learn?

Less is more.  I could have saved myself a lot of time by recording short videos instead of a single 17-minute take. The experimentation & editing of 17 minutes into 1 minute took me approximately 3 hours.  Shooting & editing on the same device is really the best case scenario.

Social--the old-fashioned way.  Reaching out to a friend is a much quicker way to a solution than fumbling in the dark on my own. 

Movie editing is time-consuming... but maybe more fruitful than the same time I would have spent on Facebook. At least I have this to show for it.

Also, my spins need work.  Good thing I have extra time to practice now.