Don’t worry, it’s all fun and games. No one, to date, has lost an eye.

I attended the Boston fight at Cambridge Common, near Harvard University. Though unarmed, myself, I bravely entered the battlefield to take a few pictures (below). I got hit by a few small children—they’re ruthless—but I left mostly unscathed. In all, it seems the revelers had a great time.

Being the multimedia nerd that I am, I also shot this short video via my iPhone:

For more information on this flash-mob-style event, or to register your city for next year, check out the International Pillow Fight Day Web site.

VYou combines the intimacy of one-to-one conversation with the reach of broadcast. It feels like a typical video chat, but the responses are pre-recorded and can be played by anyone, anywhere. Users interested in creating their own accounts can establish a one-[wo]man audiovisual archive of useful information on any topic of their choosing. It just takes you, the viewer, to ask questions.

Here’s my VYou:

I decided to collect the pictures and put together the following video:

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

You can see the epic stunt below, in all its Flip video glory.

This video illustrates in 2 minutes and 37 seconds why I spent 14 years (or half my life) transforming into such a huge multimedia geek. How can you not love this stuff?

Plus, if I were to start a “Stuff Indian People Like” blog in the vein of “Stuff White People Like,” I can guarantee that “When non-Indians embrace our culture” would be really high on my list, somewhere between “Ripping off Hollywood” and “Driving a Camry.”

Today, however, is special in its own way: Adobe has finally “officially” announced CS5 and is offering a bevy of information on all sorts of exciting new features. It turns out that I was right about some of the new HDR features that will allow users to simulate high-dynamic-range photography even with a single image file. For more information, check out the Adobe CS5 launch site:

Keep watching the above for further updates!

Edit: I’ve changed the embed URL to a page that doesn’t auto-play sound and video! This should make my blog far less annoying to visit now.

The main thing (for me, as an all-in-one new-media journalist) that older models lack is built-in video capability, but even that is changing. This past December, Qik, a company striving to bring video technology to the mobile world, released an application that turns even my first-gen’s still camera into a useful video tool.

Here’s a video I shot with Qik last month. My only complaint is that I would prefer more frames per second since these doggies are fast, but all in all, I’m quite pleased. This app makes my “classic” first-generation phone feel a bit like a 3GS light, so to speak. Obviously the 3GS, which is built for video, does a better job with it over all: The camera in general takes clearer, more vibrant photos. The video, also, is clearer and less jerky.

You can see the need for a better frame rate and quality even more so in this video I shot at a hibachi grill near my house:

The frame rate for the default Qik video resolution of 200×152 is only 15 frames per second, which is half that seen in film. Shooting anything larger will kick the rate down even further, producing a choppier shot akin to old security camera footage. That said, the application is only $0.99 and hosting is absolutely free. If money is the only obstacle between you and a shiny new 3GS with video–or if you, like me, are too lazy and attached to your older model iPhone to make the switch–you might be better off with Qik. As noted above, you won’t get the same quality or clarity, but you will get usable video.

If you’re a 3GS-less journalist or anyone else looking for a quick, on-the-fly option for raw video production, I highly recommend this program. If not, well, why are you using your cell phone to shoot to begin with?

All in all, I give Qik for the iPhone 4 out of 5 stars. It’s cheap, reliable, accessible and all-in-all a well-programmed piece of software. I’d prefer a frame rate of at least 24 FPS, but 15 isn’t terrible.

I saw this video earlier today, and I still can’t decide who to be upset with. Please watch it and then read my comments below.

I never liked Governor Sarah Palin all that much when it came to politics. She really only seemed to speak to Senator John McCain’s base, yet to a might-as-well-be-independent like me, Palin seemed a little out-of-touch and more than a little arrogant in her assumptions about all Americans. My husband isn’t a Joe Six-Pack. He’s a Steve One-Beer, if anything, or perhaps a Steve Doesn’t-Define-Himself-By-What-He-Imbibes. As for me, I don’t define myself by my trade, and I don’t think that I’m in any particular demographic that would have benefited from McCain’s tax plan more than President-elect Obama’s. I don’t feel squelched by liberal policies (I like both gays and religious freedom) and further, I don’t believe Palin was at all a victim of “Gotcha journalism.” Finally, I never found Sarah Palin particularly qualified even though she had served as governor of one of our great states.

But even with all of this in mind, Palin is not the one I’m upset with.

John McCain and his people led us to believe that Sarah Palin was the woman for the job. They told us she was brilliant, that she was qualified, and that she would be a woman to serve all Americans. So either McCain and his camp lied to us from the very beginning and almost saddled us with this now seemingly unqualified woman as the second in command in leadership of the free world, as they say… or, McCain’s campaign folks and Fox News (all big Palin people) are now totally passing the buck.

Who can be so dedicated to a cause one minute and then just abandon ship the second things go badly?

I don’t know about you, but I’d like some answers.