Alan Brandon

Wikipedia will soon add video to their online encyclopedia. That’s pretty cool, but what’s even more impressive is that they will eventually be adding web tools to allow Wikipedia users to edit the video online.

From an article on Technology Review:

The project also includes developing Web tools to create smooth methods for transferring and editing videos. When a Wikipedia editor finds relevant snippets, he will be able to preview them, and set the “in” and “out” points, without having to worry about file conversions.

The convergence of words, pictures, sound, and video is getting closer to “seamless”. With in-browser tools becoming more widespread (photo editing tools in Flickr, for example) the breadth of media available for techincal communicators is greater than ever before. I know this will benefit information users and consumers in the end (as soon as tech “writers” figure out how to take advantage of the new tools).

via 2moro docs.

The Honeywell Windgate wind turbine is compact, lightweight wind-powered generator suitable for home use. I wrote an article about it for Gizmag’s ecoGizmo section. Click the picture to read the whole story.

I wrote a short article on a neat gadget called the DidgiLife DDV-JF1. It’s a pocket-size HD video camera and video projector in one unit. Click the image to read the article.

Lawrence Lessig posted about an interesting new feature on the iFixit website. iFixit sells Apple iPod and PowerBook parts and accessories, but they also provide illustrated how-to instructions for how to service these Apple products. Now, they have provided a “teardown platform” to help users post their own procedures. The platform takes advantage of the backend system that iFixit uses to provide their own procedures.

iFixit is providing a "teardown" platform for user-contributed procedures

This is a great development in user-contributed documentation. While iFixit’s content may not be as complex as a newtork admin reference, for example, this platform may prove to be a good model for technical communicators going forward.