Content Creation

No native support for vertical video in iMovie for iPhone in 2023?

I’m starting content creation for the short format vertical video platforms like Tiktok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts. Since I shoot videos on my iPhone and am firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem I decided to turn to iMovie first to see if it would be the perfect tool for editing my vertical videos.

Nope. I was shocked to find out that in 2023 iMovie for the iPhone is not designed for editing portrait videos. When I first got the original iPhone I always hated vertical video because everything you’d show the video on was designed for landscape format videos. It seems like iMovie for the iPhone is stuck in that era. With portrait video being so pervasive on social media, you’d think that iMovie for the iPhone would be the tool for vertical video creation, but that is not the case. I think this is a huge miss for Apple.

You can do basic editing of video, but you can’t export it without using a hack like in the video below.

February 4, 2023 by
Entertainment

Genius At Work

This is an amazing moment from the Beatles documentary “Get Back” on Disney+. Watching Paul McCartney playing around on his bass and singing/humming unintelligibly until the song “Get Back” springs forth with Ringo and George yawning and then slowly joining in. It’s not often that you see a the creation of something so familiar captured like this.

Even more magic with Paul McCartney playing “Let it Be” to the rest of the Beatles for the first time. 

 

December 7, 2021 by
Technology

iPhone X Ordering Fun

It’s been 2014 since I’ve had the “fun” experience of an iPhone upgrade. The iPhone X is the perfect replacement for my aging iPhone 6 which has become unbearably slow since upgrading to iOS 11.

I read an article about using the Apple Store app and going ahead and creating a favorite that you could drop into the shopping bag and checkout. The process was going great and I had a pickup time scheduled at the Apple Store for pickup on release day, but I made a fateful mistake. I selected payment as the Apple Upgrade plan instead of buying it outright. That added a step of a long form that needed to be approved by the financing company which was unsurprisingly swamped. I got a notice that it could take 8 hours to get approved for financing and that I should not place another order while it was being approved.

I decided that I was not going to take any chances with that and tried to place another order for one that I would buy outright, but the site kept resetting until the the ship time grew to 4-5 weeks before I could get the new iPhone. I’m still kicking myself this morning for that rookie error. While it might have been nice to upgrade after 12 payments or have a 24 month no interest loan, the price of not having the new phone for 4-5 weeks makes me wish that I hadn’t made that decision earlier. So, I went to bed with one sure order with an estimated delivery time 4-5 weeks and one that I didn’t know if it was going to be placed or not. I was hoping that it would get placed so then I could cancel the second order.

When I woke this morning I got an email from the finance company saying that I was not approved because something didn’t match on my application. So the good news is that I did place the second order with the bad being that I won’t get it for 4-5 weeks unless Apple somehow starts to make the phones faster.

 

Update 2: 10/28/17

I’m now getting my iPhone X on Nov. 3rd! I responded to the email below regarding the problems that I had with the iPhone Upgrade process and my delivery time has updated to Nov. 3rd!

Update 1: 10/28/17 

I received an email from Apple stating:

Our records show that you may have recently encountered an issue while applying for a loan for an iPhone X.
To help us solve this issue as quickly as possible, please do one of the following by Sunday, October 29th, 11:59 PM PDT:

1. If you have already placed a new order, please reply to this email and provide your order number (e.g. W1234567).

2. If you have not placed a new order yet, visit apple.com or Apple Store app and place a new iPhone Upgrade Program order. Please then reply to this email and provide your order number.

We’re excited to get you your new iPhone X, and we’re working hard to get it to you as soon as possible. Please check Online Order Status in three days to check the status of your order.

I’m hoping that by asking me for my order number that they’re able to move up my ship date. I guess I’ll find out in three days.

October 27, 2017 by
Marketing

WebsiteBackup.com Billing Scam

 

Beware of this fake but pretty convincing invoice from WebsiteBackup.com. Since my company is small I immediately recognized this as a service that we didn’t sign up for. If you send in the $70, you’re signing up whatever service they’re offering.

From the fine print on the back of the invoice: 

We offer a 10-day money-back guarantee from your initial WebsiteBackup plan sign up date. Sign up date is considered the date WebsiteBackup receives your payment. After the 10-day period, there are no refunds. However, you may still cancel your account at any time.

I’m guessing they are able to stay in existence because they probably do offer a service, though based on their method of duping customers, it must be of dubious quality.

WebsiteBackupScam

April 7, 2015 by
Marketing, Technology

Amazon Dash

AmazonDashI saw this- the Amazon Dash on Amazon.com today and immediately checked to see if it was an April Fools’ Day joke. It seems real, but I am not convinced. Do we really need a plastic button in our kitchen to press when we’re out of Mac ‘n Cheese? The Verge calls it the “clearest example of where human ingenuity intersects with laziness”.

 

March 31, 2015 by
Business, Improvement, Life, Marketing

Win First

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.Sun Tzu

Sometimes I find myself in the midst of a challenge in business and wonder why things aren’t going as well as I would like. I think this quote pretty might provide a pretty good explanation.

Success is about planning and preparation before the war. You have a clearer mind and strategy that hopefully allows you to avoid some of the pitfalls. In business, often you  feel like you have to jump in quickly, but sometimes problems can be avoided with better preparation.

March 8, 2015 by
Business

Amazon Prime Packing Fail

In the box, a glass Malden Smartphone Picture Frame and a 11 pounds of liquid baby formula.

Who in their right mind thinks that a large glass picture frame is safe to ship with an 11 pounds of liquid baby formula? Some low wage packer at Amazon who most likely doesn’t care. The picture frame (a valentine’s day gift for my wife) was totally smashed with loose glass tinkling around inside the bubble wrap.

The box was half empty with only a little bit of crumpled paper as fill. With all that space, there’s no doubt the items were constantly being tossed back and forth during transit. No amount of bubble wrap could have protect the frame from damage.

America loves free shipping. As a consumer, I love free shipping. But shipping a product across the country is a real cost. So for Amazon to offer free shipping, costs are being cut in other places. Some of the savings can be made through efficiency but having low wage workers are definitely part of the equation.

Of course, Amazon is going to fix this for me by sending me a new frame and having me ship the old frame back. But, wouldn’t it be better to not have this problem in the first place? Amazon wants to be an aspirational brand, but having your final product being a poorly packed package reflects badly on the company.

Because of Amazon, it’s hard for a businesses to compete with the expectation of free shipping. But not all companies are willing to do because doing so would compromise service or forgo profit.

 

February 13, 2015 by
Business

NYTimes.com: West Coast Labor Dispute Brings Crippling Delays to Seaports

NYTimes.com: West Coast Labor Dispute Brings Crippling Delays to Seaports

This is the first mainstream reference that I have seen to a growing problem that most people know nothing about that could threaten the U.S. economy. The labor dispute between the Port owners and the longshoreman is causing major delays in the unloading of containers all along the West Coast. The longshoreman have been working without an agreement since July of last year and now the Port owners are accusing them of a slow down and are locking them out sporadically because they don’t want to pay for slow work. This has caused major disruptions in the supply chain of almost every business that involves trade with Asia.

My company has been impacted with two containers stalled for weeks. One in Tacoma, the other in Los Angeles. We have two more containers about to arrive outside of Los Angeles where they’ll be sitting next to 30 other container vessels waiting to be unloaded. The question we have is how many containers can we afford to pay for without getting merchandise to sell?

It’s hard enough to run a business without having something that you have no control over totally casting a shadow over your business. As it is, a quick resolution will leave a several month backlog, a prolonged labor showdown could cripple the economy.

February 12, 2015 by