records

You know the old saying: necessity is the mother of invention. The necessity? film two sides of a conversation with one iPhone.

The invention: the Love Box video mixer, a wood contraption that looks like it was born in shop class.

The result: documentary filmmakers were able to record a real-time conversation between two people, one on either side of the iPhone, without a special app or any kind of post-production editing. Neat!

The unfortunately named Love Box is little more than a wood stand with an angled mirror that can slide back and forth. Positioned properly, it focuses half the iPhone's lens on what's in front of it and half on what's behind. The result is a split-screen view, not unlike what you'd see during a TV-news interview.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Having hauled my record collection from state to state, I know that vinyl is pretty much the antithesis of portability. Ion Audio's LP 2 GO is making me think differently about my stash of Dylan and Stones records.

Ion has been spinning around in the digital turntable market for a while. The LP 2 GO takes that same tech and shrinks it down to something you can toss into a backpack. You'll still have to pack those big record platters around, though.

LP 2 GO has a built-in speaker and headphone output. You can blast your tunes or convert them to MP3 format via USB with the bundled software. It plays both 33s and 45s.… Read more

Former presidential candidate Al Gore has joined conservatives at the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform in expressing reservations about controversial Hollywood-backed copyright legislation.

Gore actually went a bit further than the Republican-affiliated groups: in a now-deleted YouTube video of a speech at a CareerBuilder event, the ex-veep warned that proposals to levy an Internet death penalty against allegedly piratical Web sites "would very probably have the effect of really shutting down the vibrancy of the Internet." (See CNET's FAQ on SOPA.)

It wasn't clear whether Gore was talking about the House of Representatives bill … Read more

There's more than one way to record desktop video, but most of them have the common problem of taking too long to open and use. Wisdom Software's AutoScreenRecorder is an easy-to-use, free tool for quickly recording video of your desktop, including mouse gestures. Once you've set it up to suit your needs, all you need to do is press a hot key to start recording video with AutoScreenRecorder.

AutoScreenRecorder's user interface features large, clearly marked buttons for all the functions you'll use most often. Record Now/Stop and Stand By buttons handle recording duties, while … Read more

Music retailers sound ready to uncork the champagne on the news that overall sales for the music industry rose for the first time in seven years.

Overall sales were up just a modest 3 percent in 2011, Nielsen Soundscan reported yesterday, but from the music industry's point of view, any increase is manna from heaven. It was common during the 7-year slump to see double-digit declines.

Jim Donio, president of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, the trade group representing music retailers, called the yearly sales figures "significantly positive."

According to Nielsen, digital album sales came in … Read more

People have been looking for ways to improve on the iPad's onscreen keyboard since day one. The constant screen-shifting and other shortcomings of the iPad key layout have led many people to use apps that let you communicate with minimum typing. Say "hello" to voice-recording apps.

Of the five free voice-recording iPad apps I tried, only two--Audio Memos Free and Smart Recorder Lite--let you record short sound bites and attach the resulting sound files to an e-mail or transfer them via Wi-Fi, ftp, or an online file-storage service. Dragon Dictation coverts the words you speak into text … Read more

The songwriter behind the 2007 Internet hit "I Got a Crush on Obama" is now taking aim at the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Leah Kauffman, a Philadelphia-based singer and songwriter, has released "Firewall" to protest the Hollywood-backed copyright bill, which a House of Representatives committee had been scheduled to debate tomorrow. Earlier today, the committee debate was postponed until 2012.

In addition, Dan Bull, a U.K. singer, has released "SOPA Cabana," a none-too-flattering rap taking aim against SOPA. (SOPA can "ban" you--get it?)

Opposition from the two musicians is notable because … Read more

How many pictures have you taken with your Nintendo 3DS? I haven't taken all that many, but I'll admit I'm curious about Nintendo's software update, available today, which finally adds 3D video recording to the 3DS' bag of tricks.

There is a catch: only 10 minutes of 3D video footage can be captured on the system at once. However, the 3DS can also record its video in stop-motion mode. Homemade 3D clay animation on your desk? Yes, except it's not clear if these video files can be exported or shared once recorded.

A few other minor system update tweaks include Nintendo eShop credit card payments for partial purchases (finally), and new updates for the Find Mii and Puzzle Swap games in the Mii Plaza. More importantly, where are the Game Boy Advance free game downloads for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors? For that, I guess we'll have to wait.… Read more

Now you can keep your favorite parts of any video.

With the holidays coming up, your creative side may be seeping into your thoughts. If you have a collection of videos of family, friends, or even events, you can do neat things with clips from these. VLC offers a superfast way to create clips for later editing or enjoyment.

Begin by downloading and installing VLC.

Step 1: Open VLC and open the menu labeled View. In this menu, select Advanced Controls.

Step 2: Open the video you wish to take a cut from. Use the slider to navigate to the … Read more