Personal computers offer variety of options

By: Don Edrington - North County Times | Sunday, January 22, 2006 8:37 PM PST ∞

There was a time when we bought a typewriter for typing, a phone for communicating, a phonograph for playing music, and a tape machine for recording our voices. Now we can do all the above with a PC and a peripheral or two.

We also bought a still camera for snapshots and a video camera for making movies. Now, most digital cameras also take videos. Furthermore, current PCs come with Windows Movie Maker, a program that lets you edit your videos in remarkably easy and creative ways.

Digital camera videos are stored on flash memory cards, right along with your JPG still shots. Most have file names with an extension of AVI, MPG or WMV, and end up in your My Videos folder (which is inside My Documents).

With the folder open and displaying your video files, you can click on Start>Programs>Windows Movie Maker, whereupon you can drag a video onto a "story board" which appears.

Alternatively, you can launch WMM, go to File>New Project, and browse to the target video. You can even "capture" a file directly from a connected camera or other storage device.

When the opening scene of your video appears, it can be played by double-clicking on its thumbnail. You can pause the action and cut the video wherever you want, so that pieces can be deleted, rearranged or edited in other ways.

You can add titles to a video, along with choosing from a number of scene transitions, such as "dissolve" or "Venetian blind" effects. You can also add music with any MP3s you have on hand. The various editing effects are explained with easy-to-follow, on-screen instructions. A sample digital camera video can be found on my home page.

Another thing catching on with home computerists is "blogging." "Blog" is a contraction of "Web log," and is an update of the "message board" concept which has been around for years. A blog is begun when someone posts a message regarding a particular subject, such as a political opinion or a news story of some kind. Others can then post a reply and/or add more information on the subject. As more bloggers add their thoughts, a blog can become quite lengthy and the possible source of inspiration for other blogs being created.

Naturally, the fact that something is posted on a blog does not necessarily mean it is true or accurate. Nonetheless, I've noticed that CNN frequently refers to "news blogs" for updates on late-breaking and fast-moving stories.

To find blogs on your favorite subject, or to create one of your own, simply type BLOGS into the Find box of any search engine.

Another growing trend is the creation of "podcasts," which are simply MP3 audio recordings made by those who would rather speak their messages than write them. More about these trends can be found at www.pcdon.com, and calls are welcome at (949) 646-8615.