Much better than mockups.
This is the main view window and the simplest possible interface configuration. I’m tempted to put a really attractive woman in there, but I need your eyes (and biting criticism) on the interface. A menu item can toggle a “more options” slide-out, which I’ll get to in a bit.
The middle button records and pauses recording.
The up arrow on the right uploads the current recording. In default mode, it will open a pulldown menu for different hosting sites and an option to edit the list. Items can be removed from the list so that the button can be configured for one-click uploading to your preferred location. A dialog box will open ensuring that information the host requires, like a description, is provided. An option to also save the recording to the archive will be selected by default.
The down arrow on the left saves the current recording to the archive without uploading. The particular journal can be specified in the “more options” box, pictured below. When nothing has been recorded, the button will transition you to the archive (a rotating cube effect may put the archive on the left or bottom face).
This is the “more options” panel. The pulldown menu currently shows that the “personal” journal is selected, but there may be many custom journals, such as a dream journal.
Information like titles and keywords are not necessary for archiving but are necessary for uploading to hosts like Blip.tv and YouTube. This can be filled in before you upload or for your own archiving purposes.
When the “supplemental” option is checked, the recording will be appended to the most recent entry in the selected journal. The information text boxes will automatically fill in with that entry’s information and gray out.
A core animation effect for a timestamp automatically appearing over the recording is preconfigured by default. This and the other two core animation effects are configured in separate dialog boxes, which allow for experimentation over the live feed from the camera. The options will not be complicated and will allow timely entry and exit of such effects. Configurations may be saved as presets.
For immediate playback, before saving or uploading, one can move the cursor over the viewing area and reveal the translucent controller that overlays videos in iTunes and hit play, or just click the viewing area, or hit space.
Playback in the archive maintains the same translucent QuickTIme controller. I’m working on rough drafts for the archive interface and will upload one at a later time.
To discard the current recording, click the red close button in the window. By default, a warning box will appear.
It is assumed that one wants to start over, or else one would have quit from the application menu or cmd-Q. Warning boxes may be disabled in the preferences.
Every basic operation can be executed by voice commands with the help of OS X’s built-in speech recognition. So, for example, one could say, “personal log, supplemental” to begin a supplemental recording in your personal journal.
It is not realistic to expect that the first version of iVlog will have transcription abilities. However, I expect that iVlog will eventually permit keyword-based transcription, where the system will pick up on certain pre-defined words used in the entry and automatically store them in the keywords box.
Information does not need to be appended to each movie as metadata and may be stored in something like in an XML file.
Other capabilities included in the app but not mentioned here, like importing iChat recordings to publish them as interviews or iGlasses support, would be activated through the menubar. This interface is just a prototype and was designed with simplicity in mind. It may be altered or completely discarded in the interest of a better one. So, leave comments!
Moreover, I am not an interface designer. A much more beautiful and attractive one can be created by the developers, I’m sure. So please do not discount the idea if this draft looks drab.
My blog is starting to get a little long, so be sure to check previous entries, including this post regarding visualization of some effects.
I thought I was done. Pessimistic and beaten. I even sent an email to Wil Shipley asking if he’d like to have the app idea upon elimination. (Sorry, Wil! MDA still owns it for now.)
On Friday night, the gap had narrowed to only 0.2% in what was almost a five-way tie for survival. How could anyone look at that and think, “oh, voting time as just been extended, there’s nothing I can do!”
A big thanks to everyone who voted for iVlog. At lot of people from a lot of different places and walks of life came together. Talk about a dream!
While staying up that night, the biggest gripe I heard about iVlog was the name. The “i” is overused. “Vlog” doesn’t translate well into Russian. “Vlog Wars” would have been better, especially if the vlogs shot lasers and fought one another. You name it, I heard it.
I don’t know any alternatives that make the function of the app immediately apparent, though. There’s already a vloggercon.com, so at least that part is here to stay in the public culture. As for the “i” part, I don’t know. I don’t especially like the “i” either, but perhaps we could change what the “i” means and make it more meaningful?
This is an issue that I have not properly addressed. In my earlier posts about demand, I mentioned that people are obviously not clamoring for a way to look at themselves on screen and that this masks both good uses for the app and the actual demand for it. Let me elaborate on why that is so.
I definitely agree that looking at one’s own face on screen is uncomfortable. I have a hard enough time looking at my picture here at My Dream App next to the contestants. It’s a funny story… I gave Phil a hard time sending in my photo, because I don’t own a camera and don’t keep many digital pictures of myself. Phil said that I was holding up the announcement that I was a finalist and can testify. I only have a smirk on my face because it’s so hard to smile on command for a camera. This whole time I’ve been worried about people making a judgment based on how silly I look.
But that’s exactly how iVlog can be of use. Journaling in general is supposed to help us be more comfortable with ourselves through better understanding ourselves and our lives. A video journal is the most honest way to do that. Not being able to stand a face-to-face encounter with a recording of yourself is not humility. And it most certainly is not egotistical to be comfortable with your moving image.
A video journal can help us see ourselves the way the world sees us. Consequently, we can use it to help the world see us more clearly. It’s better than looking in the mirror, because the mirror distorts your image by flipping it. Your haircut doesn’t look like that. Your face is the opposite of what you think it is. Your voice definitely doesn’t sound like how you hear it. Every bad American Idol singer would have learned this already if they used a little iVlog.
Futhermore, years from now, a mirror will not be able to show you the person you once were.
Wil Shipley implied that using this app would be egotistical. I thought he was joking, but I read a post at Ars Technica that also mentioned discomfort. A private and honest meeting with yourself at the end of the day, for the purposes of better understanding and being more comfortable with yourself, is the opposite of egotistical.
The more comfortable we are with ourselves, the better relationships we’ll have. The better we’ll be at public speaking. The better we’ll be in any kind of personal interaction.
Is this app idea so bad that it should be eliminated in the first round? With your comments and feedback, we can address problems and make it better.
The first round of voting begins in minutes. If you don’t think iVlog is the absolute perfect app for the contest criteria, here’s a little something to persuade you.
Innovation and Creativity:
The app does one thing and one thing only: video journaling or “vlogging.” Was it innovation for Apple to make a device that only played music? You bet it was. They could focus on it and do it well without getting in the face of the user. This is even more crucial for vlogging, because it’s the vlogger’s face that needs the attention.
An app dedicated to vlogging does not yet exist for the Mac, but the Mac is exactly the place where it can be done properly. This is a creativity app. The vlogger is the one who will be most creative.
Use of OS X and Leopard:
iVlog is principally dependent on Core Image and Core Animation for its creative feature set. Titles and effects can be experimented with in real time over video. Furthermore, if one does not wish to upload their vlog entry, they can save it and the effects without re-compression. The smooth experience of experimenting with video is absolutely necessary and OS X has demonstrated that it’s perfect for the job. OS X was made for iVlog, not the other way around. OS X’s abilitiy to provide a gentle overlay interface is choice. iVlog can show off OS X so well, there should be a presentation at the next MacWorld.
Feasibility of Development:
iVlog is similar to Apple’s Motion because of its ability to render text and image effects. However, it certainly will not be as extensive as Motion, because it shouldn’t be. All it would do are things that help vloggers. A headline and a timestamp. Maybe a sidebar with a word on it (think Colbert Report). Nothing fancy, just very cool. Core Image and Core Animation are made for this, so they should help development tremendously.
Update: There is some discussion in the comments section about voice-recognition feasibility, and I encourage you to check them out. Thanks for your feedback!
Mass-Market Appeal:
I think of this criterion as another way of saying “marketability,” which is a hugely dynamic and complex concept that even marketers don’t really understand. It takes more than just appeal from the mass market. It also takes a willingness, ability, and decision to buy the app at a price that makes us money. Mass-Market appeal is little good if the competition is stronger. To remain strong, it pays to have relationships with distributors and producers who can add value to the app. So, allow me to list reasons why I think iVlog is an insanely marketable app.
• The vlogging market is just starting, giving us an enormous opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime.
• The “My Dream App” format is poised to beat competition early, with fast development based on exactly what vloggers tell us they want.
• Demand will continue to emerge indefinitely with the growth of the Internet.
• Good opportunities with other producers, like a possible bundle deal with iGlasses.
• Good opportunities with vlog distributors, like YouTube one-click uploading from a free iVlog Lite
• It will give ordinary people the ability to make great vlogs that will further provide popular exposure for the app.
• Use of the app will raise the value of the whole Internet and a Mac with iSight, especially for tweens, teens, and people who think interacting with strangers over the net right now is too anonymous, dangerous, and impersonal (e.g. their moms and dads). iVlog can legitimately become the next killer app.
Personally, it would be my killer app for dream journaling (my dreap app). Nightvision through iGlasses can make it easy to wake up, talk about a dream, and get back to bed. Quick, consistent, and efficient dream journaling is very hard to achieve.
Here is a compiled list of iVlog’s feature set. Please remember that you can comment on these and that they are only ideas. There’s an opportunity to change them. Is something too much? Is something missing? By all means, let your voice be heard!
• Audio and video recording support
• Unobtrusive yet elegant overlaying interface
• Saving effects without recompression
• Easily navigable archive
• One-click uploading to sites like YouTube
• Video Podcast support
• Animated text (including titles and timestamps)
• Animated custom graphical adornments of any size, shape, and transparency
• Simple video editing capabilities like cutting and trimming
• iChat-style presentation abilities
• iChat-style still and video backdrops
• Ability to import recorded iChat sessions to publish as interviews
• iGlasses support
In the interest of time and space in this blog, I take some things implicit. For example, I am taking it implicit that iVlog will have the ability to distinguish personal journal entries from dream journal entries. I also assume the ability to add keywords for searching.
I’ll be here to listen how iVlog can be better. Thank you for your vote.
Remember I said I might have a surprise for you? Well? What do you think? :)
That question is also addressed to YouTube. Currently, I’m suggesting this idea in the spirit of forming a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship. The MDA team can increase the amount and talent of uploads to YouTube dramatically. In turn YouTube can help support contributions from iVlog. I sent YouTube an email a few minutes ago and invited them to comment in this blog. You should comment, too! Afterwards, I hope everyone sticks around and lets me know their ideas for a killer vlogging app.
As a reminder, I must stress that I certaintly cannot enter the MDA team into any agreement with YouTube. However, I submit the idea here as a possibility like any other I have submitted thus far that would make iVlog more marketable. It seems only natural and could benefit all parties - especially you.
iVlog Lite would literally just have the two capabilities I mentioned. Likewise, the interface would consist of these two buttons:
1) A record button
2) An upload to YouTube button
That’s it. A simple beautiful little app that anyone and everyone can use it. Even domesticated animals will find out they can upload videos of themselves across the Internet. Did I mention it would be free?
Of course, if you want to save your creations to an archive, and further personalize your vlog, add titles, images, iGlasses, iChat-style presentations, and any features iVlog may have (leave some comments!) you’ll need the full version. I think you’ll really want it. I know I do.
I’m thinking the full version should also include simple cutting, trimming, and editing capabilities, similar to QuickTime Pro.
My original idea was to make an extremely simple vlogging app, one that is enjoyable both offline and on. It would change the world by making it stunningly easy to give a face and a voice to everyone on the Internet. The price of such a simple app would be precarious. Someone may be able to just make it for free.
Well, why shouldn’t we make it for free, back it up with a stellar full version and a killer brand, and help YouTube while we’re at it?
