class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Icon.png" alt="" />In the world of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-simple-tips-to-record-great-looking-home-videos/">home video editing, it seems like you are either forced to settle with the standard editors that are already provided on your system, or you’ll have to fork over a few dollars just to buy something decent (even items such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/adobe/">Adobe Premiere Elements).

With that in mind, there are a few free video editors available in the land of Internet, and although they aren’t entirely useful for heavy editing, they are good for small projects or learning the basics before you make a major purchase. Take a gander at href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip, a basic clip-trimmer and and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video-converter/">video converter that is simple yet effective.

Embrace The Clip Trimmer

Straight-up, href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is not a full-blown nonlinear video editing system. It’s more of a small clip-trimmer – something that you would find as a mere feature in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apple-refunding-dissatisfied-final-cut-pro-customers-news/">Final Cut Pro 7 (the good one) or Adobe Premiere Pro. With that being said, don’t expect to create a major motion picture with this editor/converter. However, I have found some practical uses for the app that you can use in conjunction with your onboard movie editors (like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/imovie">iMovie and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/windows-movie-maker/">Windows Movie Maker).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Basic.png" alt="" width="580" height="405" />

Instead of trimming clips within your standard editor, you could first sort through them using MPEG Streamclip and pick out only the ones that you want. After this, just pop the clips in a folder and choose what you want to use. This beats throwing in a clip from a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video">video that is half an hour long.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Trim.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

Besides splicing the footage, you could always just use Streamclip to pull a piece of footage from a long video that you shot. A good example of this could be a hidden camera prank video which normally takes a long time to shoot. This makes Streamclip ideal for basic href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/youtube">YouTube videos or for quick and easy editing. One thing that comes to mind is vlogging which is normally pretty sporadic.

Convert Files However Needed

On top of the extremely primitive editing system included in MPEG Streamclip (and primitive is how I like it in some cases), the app offers the ability to convert files as needed. Just by clicking File on the menu, you will be presented with a variety of formats that your video can be exported in. Below is a list of some of the formats offered.

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/quicktime">Quicktime
• DV
• AVI
• MPEG-4
• iPod/iPhone

Beyond these, the converter will also allow you to export only audio if this is what you happen to desire. I’d assume that this would be decent if your camera has a decent microphone and you have recorded an acoustic performance. After that, you could very well pop the track right onto your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ipod">iPod or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/iphone">iPhone.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Export.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/OtherFormats1.png" alt="" width="580" height="269" />

Conclusion

So there you have it – an incredibly basic editing tool for any simple videos that you may have in mind. href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is relatively easy to use, but there are a few extra heavier video and audio options for those of you that want to dive a little deeper down the rabbit-hole.

What other simple editors have you ever used? Do you know of any similar video converters?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Icon.png" alt="" />In the world of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-simple-tips-to-record-great-looking-home-videos/">home video editing, it seems like you are either forced to settle with the standard editors that are already provided on your system, or you’ll have to fork over a few dollars just to buy something decent (even items such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/adobe/">Adobe Premiere Elements).

With that in mind, there are a few free video editors available in the land of Internet, and although they aren’t entirely useful for heavy editing, they are good for small projects or learning the basics before you make a major purchase. Take a gander at href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip, a basic clip-trimmer and and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video-converter/">video converter that is simple yet effective.

Embrace The Clip Trimmer

Straight-up, href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is not a full-blown nonlinear video editing system. It’s more of a small clip-trimmer – something that you would find as a mere feature in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apple-refunding-dissatisfied-final-cut-pro-customers-news/">Final Cut Pro 7 (the good one) or Adobe Premiere Pro. With that being said, don’t expect to create a major motion picture with this editor/converter. However, I have found some practical uses for the app that you can use in conjunction with your onboard movie editors (like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/imovie">iMovie and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/windows-movie-maker/">Windows Movie Maker).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Basic.png" alt="" width="580" height="405" />

Instead of trimming clips within your standard editor, you could first sort through them using MPEG Streamclip and pick out only the ones that you want. After this, just pop the clips in a folder and choose what you want to use. This beats throwing in a clip from a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video">video that is half an hour long.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Trim.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

Besides splicing the footage, you could always just use Streamclip to pull a piece of footage from a long video that you shot. A good example of this could be a hidden camera prank video which normally takes a long time to shoot. This makes Streamclip ideal for basic href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/youtube">YouTube videos or for quick and easy editing. One thing that comes to mind is vlogging which is normally pretty sporadic.

Convert Files However Needed

On top of the extremely primitive editing system included in MPEG Streamclip (and primitive is how I like it in some cases), the app offers the ability to convert files as needed. Just by clicking File on the menu, you will be presented with a variety of formats that your video can be exported in. Below is a list of some of the formats offered.

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/quicktime">Quicktime
• DV
• AVI
• MPEG-4
• iPod/iPhone

Beyond these, the converter will also allow you to export only audio if this is what you happen to desire. I’d assume that this would be decent if your camera has a decent microphone and you have recorded an acoustic performance. After that, you could very well pop the track right onto your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ipod">iPod or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/iphone">iPhone.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Export.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/OtherFormats1.png" alt="" width="580" height="269" />

Conclusion

So there you have it – an incredibly basic editing tool for any simple videos that you may have in mind. href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is relatively easy to use, but there are a few extra heavier video and audio options for those of you that want to dive a little deeper down the rabbit-hole.

What other simple editors have you ever used? Do you know of any similar video converters?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Icon.png" alt="" />In the world of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-simple-tips-to-record-great-looking-home-videos/">home video editing, it seems like you are either forced to settle with the standard editors that are already provided on your system, or you’ll have to fork over a few dollars just to buy something decent (even items such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/adobe/">Adobe Premiere Elements).

With that in mind, there are a few free video editors available in the land of Internet, and although they aren’t entirely useful for heavy editing, they are good for small projects or learning the basics before you make a major purchase. Take a gander at href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip, a basic clip-trimmer and and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video-converter/">video converter that is simple yet effective.

Embrace The Clip Trimmer

Straight-up, href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is not a full-blown nonlinear video editing system. It’s more of a small clip-trimmer – something that you would find as a mere feature in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apple-refunding-dissatisfied-final-cut-pro-customers-news/">Final Cut Pro 7 (the good one) or Adobe Premiere Pro. With that being said, don’t expect to create a major motion picture with this editor/converter. However, I have found some practical uses for the app that you can use in conjunction with your onboard movie editors (like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/imovie">iMovie and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/windows-movie-maker/">Windows Movie Maker).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Basic.png" alt="" width="580" height="405" />

Instead of trimming clips within your standard editor, you could first sort through them using MPEG Streamclip and pick out only the ones that you want. After this, just pop the clips in a folder and choose what you want to use. This beats throwing in a clip from a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video">video that is half an hour long.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Trim.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

Besides splicing the footage, you could always just use Streamclip to pull a piece of footage from a long video that you shot. A good example of this could be a hidden camera prank video which normally takes a long time to shoot. This makes Streamclip ideal for basic href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/youtube">YouTube videos or for quick and easy editing. One thing that comes to mind is vlogging which is normally pretty sporadic.

Convert Files However Needed

On top of the extremely primitive editing system included in MPEG Streamclip (and primitive is how I like it in some cases), the app offers the ability to convert files as needed. Just by clicking File on the menu, you will be presented with a variety of formats that your video can be exported in. Below is a list of some of the formats offered.

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/quicktime">Quicktime
• DV
• AVI
• MPEG-4
• iPod/iPhone

Beyond these, the converter will also allow you to export only audio if this is what you happen to desire. I’d assume that this would be decent if your camera has a decent microphone and you have recorded an acoustic performance. After that, you could very well pop the track right onto your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ipod">iPod or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/iphone">iPhone.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Export.png" alt="" width="580" height="253" />

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/OtherFormats1.png" alt="" width="580" height="269" />

Conclusion

So there you have it – an incredibly basic editing tool for any simple videos that you may have in mind. href="http://www.squared5.com/">MPEG Streamclip is relatively easy to use, but there are a few extra heavier video and audio options for those of you that want to dive a little deeper down the rabbit-hole.

What other simple editors have you ever used? Do you know of any similar video converters?

View full post on MakeUseOf

JetAudio is integrated multimedia software made up of a single compact rack. Not only does it play various music and video files, it also has features such as CD burning, recording, and conversion to other file formats.

View full post on FileHippo.com

JetAudio is integrated multimedia software made up of a single compact rack. Not only does it play various music and video files, it also has features such as CD burning, recording, and conversion to other file formats.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/widget-sidebar-featuredimage.png" alt="how to create widgets">Many bloggers will search high and low for the perfect WordPress widget that will do exactly what they want, but with a little programming experience you may find it’s easier to write your custom widget.

This week I’d like to show how to do exactly that, and the widget we will be writing is a simple one that picks out a single random post from your site, pulls the featured image, and displays it on the sidebar – a visual “check this out” widget that will help users to find more content on your site.

This is also an extension of a continuing series in which I show you how easy it is to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-wordpress-plugins-understanding-theme-structure/">customize your WordPress template.

You may also be pleased to know that we’ve added a new href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/wordpress-tutorials/">WordPress Tutorials category to MakeUseOf, so be sure to check that out for an ever growing archive of up to date tips and guides to the world’s favourite blogging platform.

Key Concepts: WordPress Queries and the Loop

Each page on your blog consists of a query to your database of posts. Depending on the page you are viewing, the query will change. Your blog homepage for instance, may use the query “get the latest 10 blog posts“. When you view the category archives, the query may change to “get the latest 20 posts for the category family photos only, order the results by date published“. Each query will return a set of results, and depending on the page template being used, each result will be run through the main “loop” of the template.

Each page can in fact consist of more than one query though, and you can even create your own queries to add functionality to various places in your template. You can see an example of this in use at the bottom of this article – we have a few additional queries that run on every page that aim to show you related articles you may be interested in, or articles which are trending this week.

To make our custom widget though, we will simply need to create an additional query that grabs X number of random posts plus their images, and displays them in some way on the sidebar. I already showed you last week the code to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/jazz-wordpress-blog-adding-featured-images/">grab the featured image, so we really just need to know how to make a new WordPress widget and place it on the sidebar.

Basic Widget Code

Start by creating a new .php file in your wp-content/plugins directory. You could also follow the tutorial offline then upload it using the WordPress interface, but I find it’s easier to write as we go along in case you need to debug. Call your file whatever you like, but I’m going with random-post-widget.php

Paste the following into the file and save. Feel free to change the section at the top with my name in it, but don’t adjust the rest of the code yet. This is basically a skeleton empty widget, and you can see where it says //WIDGET CODE GOES HERE is where we will add our functionality in later.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Random Post Widget
Plugin URI: http://jamesbruce.me/
Description: Random Post Widget grabs a random post and the associated thumbnail to display on your sidebar
Author: James Bruce
Version: 1
Author URI: http://jamesbruce.me/
*/
 
 
class RandomPostWidget extends WP_Widget
{
  function RandomPostWidget()
  {
    $widget_ops = array('classname' => 'RandomPostWidget', 'description' => 'Displays a random post with thumbnail' );
    $this->WP_Widget('RandomPostWidget', 'Random Post and Thumbnail', $widget_ops);
  }
 
  function form($instance)
  {
    $instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'title' => '' ) );
    $title = $instance['title'];
?>
  <p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>">Title: <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo attribute_escape($title); ?>" /></label></p>
<?php
  }
 
  function update($new_instance, $old_instance)
  {
    $instance = $old_instance;
    $instance['title'] = $new_instance['title'];
    return $instance;
  }
 
  function widget($args, $instance)
  {
    extract($args, EXTR_SKIP);
 
    echo $before_widget;
    $title = empty($instance['title']) ? ' ' : apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
 
    if (!empty($title))
      echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;;
 
    // WIDGET CODE GOES HERE
    echo "<h1>This is my new widget!</h1>";
 
    echo $after_widget;
  }
 
}
add_action( 'widgets_init', create_function('', 'return register_widget("RandomPostWidget");') );?>