My Dream App

Of course I have to comment on this as it is very close to our product iVeZeen. I think vlogging is something a lot of people want to do to chronicle their lives or the lives of their children. It requires a lot of time and technology savvy to do, however, and thus will gain popularity only slowly over time. There certainly is a lot of cool technology in Mac OS X that makes this fun.

I honestly don’t understand who wouold use this app. Who would record a video journal for their own private use? And for video podcasting, how is this better than using iMovie, which has a very nice interface for live recording from an iSight? I see no market for this app.

Here’s the real secret about vlogging: it is a lot of work. You have to shot video, import it, manipulate it in something (iMovie, Quicktime, Final Cut), and then you have to encode it and push it out to your adoring fans. I’m tired just thinking about it. That being said, I can see iVlog being very popular for a certain kind of vlogger (I’m thinking the angsty teens out there that are smarter than everyone and know nothing but suffering in the suburbs) though I don’t think Ze Frank would suddenly start using it. The biggest problem with iVlog is that vlogging isn’t really mainstream yet. It is on the cusp of either being very popular, or being relegated to something that very few people do but a slightly larger number of people watch. I like the YouTube upload idea though, and perhaps something similar with that MySpace site the kids all like would work well.

Anything that makes [pod|video|whatever]-casting more “Point and Shoot” is okay by me.

I’d love this to be almost like a screen capture tool (like Snapz). Where I hit a universal control key (maybe via Quicksilver) and in 3…2…1… I can just start talking into the camera. When I’m done I click again, up pops a box where I select a title and tags, then select which service(s) it goes to and I’m done.

I would totally use this.

Mickey proved himself to be a pretty poor sportsman after round 1 voting was over. I still like the iVlog concept (in fact, I was the one to push to make it a finalist originally), but there’s really no way I’d want to work with Mickey after seeing how he escalated things.

The sooner this idea is eliminated, the happier I’ll be. As Mickey told another contestent after he was eliminated in round 1, I’m hoping to tell Mickey, “enjoy your iPod” shortly.

I like that Mickey is trying to stir the pot with this one, and that he’s approaching things in a straightforward and competitive manner. I just wish the actual app he was pimping was more compelling.

I agree that video blogging is going to be big, much bigger than it is now. The issue is that either iVlog stays simple, in which case, it’s pretty easy for someone to come along and offer the same thing for free, or else it becomes complex by adding editing and effects, at which point it becomes iMovie, which is also (for all intents and purposes) free. Hmmmm.

This app would be very simple to write. I’m not sure how many people actually WANT to vlog. It’s very unnerving. I’m pretty egotistical, but even I don’t want to look at myself that much. Also, I take points away for the hand-waving at the end (”speech recognition! blogging! podcast! vlan! metadata tagging with bio-informatics!”)

It’s like Captain’s log feature in Star Trek. The function is plain and simple. Capture audio and video to create a vlog entry which you can then publish on your site. What intrigued me about this idea is that I could keep a personal video journal just like the Captain’s log. I always wanted to have something like this since I saw it the first time on Star Trek. I wouldn’t totally focus the application on the vlogging hype but would also make sure that it’s great for keeing your personal journal. It’s still no clear whether vlogging takes off. Otherwise the idea focuses on its primary function and avoids bloat by not offering features like hard-core video editing. If it is done right it could be a hit.

Good idea! Much depends on the actual execution of the app — but if it’s easy to start or append to the day’s entry, then you’ve got it made. Ideally there’s a way I can launch the app with a voice command.