Last year, some friends and I launched and lost a balloon with a bunch of cameras on it and multiple ways of tracking it. You can see the videos that I made about that here and here.

Recently I’ve been wanting to play around with gps/ham/aprs trackers and there isn’t really a great place to read up on aprs in one place, if yoiu’ve got good links, drop them in the comments please. I want to learn more!

The easiest way to get into it, is to get the Byonics Microtrak300. Keep in mind you’re going to need a null modem adapter and a female to female gender switcher and a decent usb to serial adapter. You’re also going to need a windows PC although you might be able to do it with parallels on the mac.

I didn’t have a null modem adapter so I checked out this diagram and wired it up on a breadboard to program it. It only uses 4 of these pins so it’s just a matter of switching pins 2 and 3 and connecting pin 5.I’ll take a picture next time I set it up to program it. It took me a while to figure this out because I was using an old laptop that had a serial out and either it didn’t have enough power to make the serial out work, or the serial out just didn’t work. We had a windows 2000 box laying around the hacker space and with some help from a friend, we broke into it and set it up. Having a regular serial out is really nice. USB to serial adapters can be fussy. You’ll also want to look at the device manager to see which COM port your hooked up to. I was hooked up to COM1.

Once I got it set up, I loaded up the software. Basically, you just slap in your call sign, pick the type of image you want to show up on maps, a little message, and how often you want it to beacon. Then you write it to the chip and you’re all set. I cut the gps serial cord and hooked it straight up to the device so it’s hard wired now.

Despite the fact that I’ve mounted it on the top of the 9 story building at the hacker space, I haven’t had much luck in getting it to hit a repeater station yet. I’ve been looking for it on findu.com, ariss.net, aprsworld.net, and openaprs.net and so far, no luck. I’m going to attempt to see if I can get it to hit the space station later tonight, but as it is, there may not be a local aprs internet gateway or I’m doing something wrong or I need more power. I’ll keep you posted!

I use twitter and I love it, but recently I’ve been frustrated with Twitter’s uptime and it’s got me thinking about having the data of who I connect to as mine instead of being owned by a company. Chats with Kewagi and Potatono led to the start of a Team Free Bird wiki.

There are a lot of businesses out there trying to copy twitter and do it better by making a better business site, but I don’t see any official open source projects building up. Still, with the amount of chitter chatter out there, I’m confident that it’s not far away. Check out these links and leave comments with other links or projects underway.

Joe’s take The comments are interesting here too. - Link
Graphsync - A challenge to get your personal info off of proprietary networks. - Link
Distributed Twitter in 20 Lines of code. - Link
APML - Link
XXMP - Link

You’ve got a camera, you’ve got some shooting know-how, and your audio is sounding sweet. Now, what about lighting? This video shows you three options for lighting your video. The "free" option is to shoot in front of a window. The cheap option is to use clip lights and the pro option is to get a lowel light kit.

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The most important thing about lighting for video is that you’ve got light. Without enough light, your camera’s autofocus will be grumpy and the picture, while it may look ok in the camera viewer as you shoot, will look all grainy when you transfer the video. Also, in the video I mention diffusion filters.

There is a lot to learn about lighting for video. If you get into it, you can spend years learning about lighting. I took a 16 hour intro class once that really gave me some ideas to play around with. The goal with this video is to get you started and get the lighting in your next video better than the lighting in your last video.

I went looking for resources to learn more about lighting on the internet, but didn’t find much, so if you’ve got a resource for more information about lighting or if you have your own tips and tricks, leave a note in the comments!

Last weekend as I was making the roof of my apartment into a squirrel-proof fortress, I ripped the knees of my jeans.  After wearing the shredded dungarees around for the rest of the day, I decided I wasn’t the type of guy who can rock the ripped denim.  The jeans fit me perfect and it seemed such a waste to let them go, so I decided to fix them up. After some research I came up with this solution to my ripped jean dilemma.

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If you have a different way of reparing your jeans, leave a comment or even better, make a video about it, upload it to Youtube and post a link in the comments!

Do you like Etsy videos? Show your love and be the first ones to see them by becoming a youtube subscriber and setting up your iTunes to automagically download the latest videos.

Gabe Molnar of 1AEON says his designs often come from his dreams. The fantastical imagery includes lions, dragons, skulls and owls. Working non-stop in his small kitchen in Brooklyn, this Hungarian-born artist is driven to be the best at whatever he does and to push the boundaries. But his passion and ambition hasn’t made Gabe lose sight of his humble beginnings. We were very inspired to meet the maker behind 1AEON and hear his story.

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I love this video. This shoot really came together magically. Shooting at Coney Island was surreal.

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and make sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel and Subscribe in iTunes. 

If you’re interested in all things Hungarian, check out this post on traditional and contemporary Hungarian crafts.

So you’ve got your camera and you’re shooting some special footage. How can you make it sound good?

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If you keep your subject within arm’s length, you can use the onboard (built in) mic to get passable audio. If you’re recording to tape, you’ll get some tape sound, but it’s likely that it will be usable audio. Photograpy cameras in movie mode sometimes have decent audio.  Test what you’ve got and see how it sounds! If your camera has audio monitoring levels, you’ll want to watch those as you record, too.

Improving your audio is as easy as getting a microphone. Even a $10 computer condenser microphone will improve your audio. A small mic gets closer to the subject and that’s always good.
As far as sources for audio options, I shop at B & H. If you’ve got another spot you like to shop, leave a note in the comments.

Here’s the breakdown of some of the microphones we use for the Storque.

Lavaliers: Here on the Etsy Media Awesome Team, we use a wired Audio Technica Pro 70 and a wireless Sony mic and they both work well. They are XLR, so if your camera doesn’t have an XLR input you’re going to have to get a converter cord or a Beachtek adapter. XLR is a way of hooking up mics that gives better quality sound than 1/8 inch jacks.

Shotgun: We use two Sennheissers. One is tiny and one is big.  They both work great. (The price I quoted for the big Sennheiser in the video is wrong. It’s more like $450. If you need a cheaper shotgun, I’ve shot with the Azden, and it’s fine, too.) To learn more about shotgun mics, check out this article.

Although it’s not in this video, if you’re looking for a basic old-skool handheld mic, I’ve had a good experience with this Shure.

If you’ve got a mic you’re happy with, make sure to leave a note in the comments! For more videos about making videos, keep reading our Getting Started in Video series!

You’ve got a video camera…what next?

The basic idea is to put something in front of the camera and push the red button, but there’s a lot more.  This video is just a few tips and tricks to get you on your way. The main thing is to just start making videos and then each one will get better and better.

If you’re going to go handheld, you can improve your stability by holding your elbows in. A tripod will keep the camera steady.  If possible have the camera at eyeline or above because people just look more beautiful from above.  You don’t need to see up my nose.

Jump cuts are when you see lots of cuts without a change in camera position.  I use these a lot.  It also helps to plan some things out.  I make a bullet list of things that I want to make sure I say.  When working with other people, I find it’s easier to ask them to talk about a list of topics rather than memorize things.

Don’t be afraid to shoot it again and again and again.  A few people called in today and I’m going to respond to their questions in future videos.  If you’ve got tips for shooting video, leave a note in the comments or leave me a voicemail at 917-720-4197 and I might post your message in a future post! MP4 Link

Today I’m on Blip on Blip which is Blip.tv’s video program about the creative folks who publish videos there. We were going to shoot it in a white room, but decided instead to keep it fresh and show you NYC! Thanks to Justin for the interview and Bill for the awesome shooting and editing! MP4 Link