iPhone as your Webcam

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In this issue:

iPhone as a webcam
YouTube on TV tip
Killer Ad
Google vids anyone?

iPhone as a webcam

Just checking .. you know you can use your iPhone as your webcam right?

It's called continuity camera and it's very easy to use.

Apple has a good article here with the tech specs needed, definitely worth upgrading your OS and iOS.

Let's face it (excuse the pun): the FaceTime webcam on older Macs isn't great quality, especially in less than ideal light.

Using your phone as your webcam upgrades your video quality and can even soften the background - without needing an external device, which is especially useful if you are on the road and don't want to carry a webcam.

(And yes it works with ScreenFlow if that's your editing tool.)

iPhone as webcam (with a lighting tweak). Credit: Wistia

You could mount your phone on a tripod behind your mac or use a magsafe clip on device like this one. (Please note: I do not own this particular device so am not endorsing it, just pointing it out)

YouTube on TV

Watching YouTube is booming on TV sets, from a last summer Nielsen stat it amounted to 9% of all TV usage (USA)

So I noticed channels using QR codes more and more to get subscribers.

It can take a bit of effort for viewers to subscribe via the TV App, but some will grab their phone and point it at a QR code on the screen.

You may have noticed mainstream advertisers and news channel offering QR codes too in their output - which is a sign it works.

The Walking Tours & Road trips channel is just the kind of great looking, sit back and relax channel that works great on TV and I noticed they use QR codes to take you to their subscribe page.

See this video at 58.51 (click here or the pic to jump to that timecode)

There are many QR generators, I recently tested this one that gives you an allocation of codes on a free plan. You select which link you want the code to lead to.

Then you download your code as a transparent PNG file and add it to your video when you edit. Boom!

Killing it

This Ad is killing it in the SEO niche.

I recently wrote about not wearing huge text on clothing (as it gets in the way of captions), but that doesn't mean wearing something that stands out can't grab attention.

This eccentric outfit immediately caught my eye, plus the snappy cheeky tone and the spot on music choice really hits the mark.

👉 Watch the Ad here or if not available on facebook 👉 watch video on my dropbox.

The viewer feedback, and like count is so positive. Is it too over the top? Well the target audience is always the judge here.

You might be in, what you believe to be, a dull, non-visual niche, but think again.

Be daring!

Google Vids?

Google is getting into the AI space with Google Vids.

“The ethos that we have is, if you can make a slide, you can make a video in Vids,” Kristina Behr, Google’s VP of product management says. “No video production is required.” (Credit: The Verge)

You can read more about it here, the reception has been a little mixed for sure.

You can watch Google's own video here.