www.NewVentures.ca

So as you may ( or maybe not ) have noticed. I had a bit of a problem with a video on my last post. The problem was that I inserted a link to a you-tube video that ended up being removed and since it was the center of my story, it was kind of hard to understand what I may have been rambling about without viewing it. Well today that has been solved thanks to a great little plugin for WordPress that allows my site to become a Flash Video Player. It’s called the Hana FLV Player.

The reason I went with this little gem was that it was simple and straightforward to use, had no restrictions vis-a-vis what your site may or may not be about ( private or commercial ), was very flexible and very configurable AND most importantly – FREE!

What I was also impressed with was that it was already configured to work with my blog without having to adjust any of it’s settings, and it has lots of settings! Pretty well everything is configurable. It has become so popular now that they even have their own support forum now -> wpmarketing.org/forum/forum/wp-plugin-hana-flv-player

Here is how you would implement it and adjust quite a few settings ( which again were not necessary on my blog .) You would just add the following code (using the appropriate address of the real video you want to show ) in the text of your posting:

[hana-flv-player
   video="http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/plugins/hana-flv-player/babyhana.flv"
   width="400"
   height="320"
   description="Sarah is having fun in a merry-go-round"
   clickurl="http://yourwebsite.com/"
   clicktarget="_blank"
   player="4"
   autoplay="false"
   loop="false"
   autorewind="true"
   splashimage="http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/plugins/hana-flv-player/splash.jpg"
/]

As you can see it’s quite simple to use and can be easily adjusted to suit your needs!

I would recommend this package/plugin to anyone, who has a WordPress blog, who is wanting to embed ANY internet video ( that’s right you don’t have to host it on your own site – all you need is the URL or address ). I’m thinking that in future I’ll use this engine to play any and all future videos that I might want to post. It’s a great tool to have in your blogging quiver!

Till next time!

So I just got an update of a neat new product coming out for the Beamz. It’s an interactive music DVD by Eugene Groove called Groove on This. Where you get to play along with all his #1 hits using the Beamz. The neat thing is that he is playing on a 4 laser beam Beamz vs the usual 6.  Here’s a video of him talking and demonstrating it!

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I think my wife had an ulterior motive when she got me my Beamz… I really think that she saw how great it would be for kids faster than anyone I’ve ever seen and probably thought that I would be the best guinea pig/demonstrator for it… I don’t know, and she won’t admit to it, but I suspect it somewhat none the less!

Not that I’m complaining, I love my Beamz and would have a hard time parting with it! The really neat thing is that the Beamz is starting to catch on, and as a result more effort is going into supporting it and expanding it’s capabilities. Which of course has lead me to other people who are heavily involved in it’s growth. They are an amazing group and extremely dedicated! If you are looking for any of these people, as well as community support for the Beamz then I recommend that you check out The Beamz Community – www.beamzcommunity.com. Here, after you join, you can post questions, and interact with what I think are some of the most amazing people supporting the Beamz!

But I digress….

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There has been a fair bit of interest generated the article I wrote about my Beamz. I have to tell you it’s a pretty neat/addictive device. The more I play with it the more I like it.

Even my 5 & 7 year old grandsons enjoy playing it. They really like to use it as an air guitar – one hand playing the Beamz ( picture their hand where the neck of the guitar should be, only playing with the lasers in the Beamz ), the other strumming the air guitar. I gotta tell you it’s great fun to watch them having fun with it!

I’ve also upgraded my system now so that it includes the Beamz Studio and making your own unique music ( that can then be played in 100’s of different ways ) is pretty easy and amazing! I hope to have a separate article about that some time later.

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Let me give you a bit of background here on one of my favorite Video Tools…

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For a long, long, LONG time I’ve depended on an amazing little tool developed for Windows, called EasyMPEG. This little program, which doesn’t’ take up much space has been without a doubt the most indispensable tool within my vast collection of Video Editors. It doesn’t do a lot, but what it does do, is done extremely well, with very little overhead.  It basically edits MPEG or VOB videos as easily as a pair of scissors used to edit old film.

Essentially you load your program, then load up the video you want to edit. You can quickly move through or play the video until you get to your first cut point ( where you make your beginning mark). You then quickly move to the end point ( the end of your selected cut ) and mark your end cut. Note you can also move almost frame by frame if you need to.

After you have selected the piece that you want to keep, you then click on the transfer button to put the file into your buffer. The amazing part here is that the process is almost instantaneous! I’ve used other “professional” editors to do this and it takes forever to transfer the selected video from one point to another.

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