Is Google Buzz Dying or Just Waiting for the Cavalry to Arrive?

Recently we’ve learned two interesting things Google-related. One, Google Wave is dead. And two, Google is working on a comprehensive social networking platform, supposedly to be called Google.Me, to compete with Facebook. Let’s think about this a moment.

I think Wave is an interesting application that could have become a useful tool, had it not become the latest Google project to fall off the wall due to an complete lack of post-launch support. I’m not a fan Google’s “throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks” approach to application deployment. I’d also venture that the success rate of apps launched that way is about the same as my success rate in getting Disqus to accurately compute Reactions to my blog posts. Low, really low.

Google must know that approach doesn’t really work, given the complete opposite approach it took with Google Buzz. Google bolted Buzz onto Gmail accounts, guaranteeing a large user base, even if portions of that use base don’t know anything about Buzz. I think the fact that Google launched Buzz in this aggressive manner is very telling. It tells me that Google really wanted Buzz to succeed. It also makes me wonder if Buzz has a more important purpose than serving as the Twitter clone-of-the-week. Like serving as the advance guard for a greater invasion.

First of all, isn’t it interesting that Buzz has been around for so long and the average Facebook fanatic still couldn’t tell you what Buzz does and how you use it? Facebook (big time) and Twitter (supposedly) hit the big time when they penetrated beyond the Nerd Kingdom into the larger realm. So I think we can stipulate that to be successful Google Buzz- or Google.Me- will need to do so as well. So why does Buzz seem like the Masons, all cloaked in mystery and whatnot? Heck, I’m not sure I know what Buzz really does, and I’m interested in this sort of thing. How little do you think the average Facebook fanatic knows about Buzz? I’m thinking nothing.

If Google had merely tossed Buzz against the wall, the way it did Wave, Buzz would already be dead.

What’s really going on here is that Google is just treading water pending the great (or not, we’ll see) unveiling of Google.Me. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Buzz was merely an advance guard, used to set up camp in our browsers until it is replaced by the (Google hopes) mighty occupation forces of Google.Me.

Either way, I am profoundly ambivalent about Buzz. Google.Me? There is great potential for Google to build a better Facebook. Facebook in many ways is broken, hobbled by its back-end and its origin as a place for college kids to hook up (“Poke” someone? Seriously?). The harder part will be nurturing the application once it is live. That is not Google’s strong point. The hardest part, which could be an insurmountable problem, is getting the non-nerd herd at Facebook to migrate to Google.Me. I’d say the odds are long, but not impossible. Personally, as long as I can push my Google.Me content into Facebook (not a sure thing by any means), I’d use Google.Me if it were a more robust platform. I still miss Pownce, but maybe that’s just me.

As an aside, Google also needs to push this stuff into Google Apps much faster. Another example of Google’s haphazard development style.

In the meantime, I’d be inclined to ignore Buzz completely, but several people I know and whose opinions I respect seem to like it. Maybe they always pull for the underdog, I don’t know. Louis Gray thinks Buzz will survive. Thomas Hawk also likes it a lot, but it could be the yang for his Flickr angst.

At the end of the day, I keep wondering why Google doesn’t use more glue when it tosses these applications up there. Maybe in the case of Buzz, stealth was or perhaps became the plan.

I guess I’ll wait and see what comes (or goes) next.

The Mac-age: I've Seen the Deal-Stopper, and Its Name is Video

It’s no secret that I have been considering going all-Apple, which at this point would only require that I dump my HP desktop for an iMac or more likely one of the forthcoming new Mac Pros. All of my other important gear is already Apple. Until last night, things were looking good.

I’ve concluded that routine computing (email, Google Reader, web browsing, Facebook, and word processing) works very well on a Mac. In fact, in many ways I like the vibe and feel of OS X better than that of Windows 7. I was surprised by how much I like Safari. I still haven’t installed Firefox (fading) or Chrome (rising) on my Mac Mini. Add the superior handling of audio-video content via Front Row and Plex, and it was starting to look like I might soon get my official Apple fan-boy card.

Prior to last night, the only things left to check out were video editing (which I do a fair amount of, for home movies and the occasional short film), and music creation (which I used to do all the time, haven’t done much lately, but may do more thanks to the reunion of my friend’s band (yes, that’s a hint of things to come)). Given the conventional wisdom that Macs are so much better for creative work, I didn’t expect a problem.

Boy, was I wrong.

I bought Final Cut Express (called FCE by those in the know), and installed it on my Mac Mini. The program has that odd Apple organizational structure all over it, but there’s no denying that it is a powerful tool. So I concluded it would be just a matter of learning my way around it. If I can figure out Photoshop, no software can defeat me.

And then I tried to import some AVCHD files. You know, those HD files that just about every HD camera in the known universe uses. No go. Can’t do.

Seriously? I thought Steve Jobs’ General Order #1 was to make things easy for the consumer? Isn’t that why Apple keeps competing apps out of the App Store?

I understand and sometimes even agree with Apple’s app-control policies (for example, I’m glad Apple tries to keep certain family unfriendly content out of the App Store). But Apple is simply not going to change the entire home video industry by limiting AVCHD compatibility.

Someone is going to tell me how you can import AVCHD files into FCE, if you do it directly from the camera or maybe if you copy over the entire file structure from the camera. Well guess what? That’s not how I do it. I copy all of the video files into production folders on my network storage and then pick and choose from there. This works just fine for Windows applications (though I remain worried that Corel is going to screw up Video Studio Editor, which is my Windows app of choice; and I have to point out that VSE doesn’t like QuickTime files either). I don’t know the background of this frustrating incompatibility, but Corel and Apple need to face the fact that (a) most video cameras record in AVCHD and (b) all iPhones record in QuickTime (.mov). All of these things need to play well together.

Someone else is going to tell me about these programs that will convert the AVCHD files to MP4, which FCE can import. Why? Why in the world should that be necessary? Furthermore, I tried one. It took forever to convert the files (remember my theme that time is a precious commodity), and the quality of the converted video was close to horrible and far from HD.

So, until further notice, my all-Apple plan is on hold. I’m not going to pay a fortune for a Mac Pro only to make tasks harder.

What a shame. I was looking forward to getting my fan-boy card.

About this Spotify Thing

Or non-thing, as the case may be.

First, some brief background. I am a recorded songwriter, and a huge music fan. I have hundreds of my songs available on the dreaded internet, for free. I also have a huge library of purchased music on our family’s music server (where my kids ignore the Allman Brothers in favor of some Disney Channel media creation, but I digress). Many thousands were legally ripped from the thousands of CDs that have spent the last decade stored in boxes in the garage. Several more thousand were purchased (DRM-free) from Amazon (which is the only place you should ever purchase music, but more on that in a moment).

Photobucket

As I’ve said a few times, I am bored beyond description by all the hoopla surrounding Spotify. Either launch in the US, and I’ll take a look, or don’t. But fish or cut bait. Poop or get off the can. Play your music or shut up. There hasn’t been this much attention paid to something that doesn’t exist since Y2K. Seriously, my kids don’t love me as much as some bloggers seem to love this vapor-service.

Paul Carr writes an absolute must-read (and I use that term rarely about things not written by me) article about Spotify and some other service called (stupidly) Rdio (is Ry Prker Jr. the singer?). I haven’t used Rdio, and I probably won’t. Partially due to Paul’s description and partially due to the indisputable fact that:

1. I simply don’t want to rent my music. I can understand renting a house. They cost a lot of money. I can sort of understand renting a car. They cost a lot of money. I rented a tuxedo a few times, because I was only going to wear it once.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension
I rented this fancy tux back in 1977

But songs cost around a dollar. I don’t rent gumballs or stamps, so why in the name of all four Elvises (Presley, Costello, Grbac and Dutton) do I want to rent a dadgum song? If I don’t know that I’m going to play it more than once, then I shouldn’t be renting or buying it. You can preview songs, or enough of them to know if they suck or not, lots of places, for free.

2. I’ve tried similar services, and while the are intriguing, they didn’t work for me. When I first stumbled onto the dreaded internet back in the day, music files were in Real Media format. That’s because we were all on dial up, and the pipes were the size of fishing line. But I dutifully encoded all my songs (as in the ones I wrote) in Real Media format (that was a fun few days), put them up on a flashing (not flashy) web page and waited patiently for George Strait and/or Bruce Springsteen to discover them. Somewhere along the way, I made the epic mistake of installing the Real Player on my Compaq 386. It tried to take over the entire Risk board from the safety of my 200 MB hard drive. It was horrifying and irritating. After I finally succeeded in removing all of the remnants of that application…

I turned around and jumped back into the molasses by installing Rhapsody (when it was an on-demand service; it may still be- I have anything Real-related blocked by redundant firewalls guarded by rabid German Shepards with fully-charged Tasers in their mouths), so I could listen to music on demand.

3. Rhapsody was sort of appealing. I liked the catalog and it was easy to use. What it wasn’t easy to do was cancel. It would be easier to get Dave Winer to admit that he didn’t actually invent everything than it was to successfully cancel the Rhapsody service. The almost as big problem was that, while I could listen to that big library while sitting at my computer, it was either technically or practically impossible to take the songs with you or burn them to a CD without, you guessed it, buying them. I could rent to buy. Like a fake leather sofa or an off-brand TV. Awesome. Not.

Anyway, after making about 300 calls, sending about a thousand emails, and seeking counsel with a Jamaican shaman, I finally got free of Rhapsody. I promised never again.

Never. Again.

So here’s the thing. Music just isn’t that expensive. If I want to hear a type of music, then I use Pandora, which with a little care and feeding can give you a really targeted playlist. Targeted to your actual musical likes, and not bound by genre. If I really like something and want to take it with me, I buy it at Amazon. Because you get unrestricted MP3s. iTunes would be a decent alternative, except for the fact that iTunes, the application, sucks so bad.

At the end of the day, all I really want is for people to stop yammering on about Spotify. At least until it launches. Then we can go all Flipboard again, and claim it is the iPhone killer of the day. Or something. Everything has to kill something.

Until (and likely after) then, I’ll take my music now. On my hard drive, CD and/or iPhone.

Exposing the Fatal Flaw in Social Network Marketing

I read (via a link from Hutch Carpenter) with absolute glee today an article at the Harvard Business Review that points out what I and about 3 other voices have been screaming from the wilderness for years- customers don’t really want to “socialize” with companies:

Maybe customers are shifting toward self service because they don’t want a relationship with companies. While this secular trend could be explained away as just a change in consumers’ channel preferences, skeptics might argue that customers never wanted the kind of relationship that companies have always hoped for, and that self service now allows customers the “out” they’ve been looking for all along.

In fact, the trend has long been towards company avoidance, with two very different exceptions, which we’ll get to in a moment.

First, let’s look at how most people shop and consume today.

My Time is Not Your Money

Time is precious in this day and age. I buy virtually all of my products, other than groceries, online. Even at the grocery store, we are in the middle of a shift to self-checkout. I thought that was an insane idea the first time I saw it. Now I use it all the time. It’s all about saving that precious commodity- time.

It takes a fraction of the time to buy a product online, and my goods get delivered to my doorstep. Amazon Prime delivers by second-day mail. I have found Apple and even Dell to be very fast shippers, with items often arriving even before the estimated date. All of this gives me more time to do what I want to do, whether that’s make more money for me, or spend some extra time goofing off with my kids.

If you want to talk to me, in whatever capacity, that takes time. Time that I probably don’t want to give you if the idea is to part me with my money. The fact that I can read (or click, in the case of buying something online) faster than you can talk is why I get my news online and not on TV, and why I have never been into the video-blogging thing. I want to consume information and goods at my pace, not yours.

Time being such a precious commodity, why in the world would people want to prolong the process they have to go through to get the goods they want? In other words, people, even those who play Farmville, are smart enough to know that (a) some company who invades Facebook is there, ultimately, to make money off of them, and (b) time spent on some pseudo-conversation with a company representative (or likely a series of them) could be better spent looking for lost chickens (or whatever you do in Farmville).

The Tupperware Effect

I have never been to a tupperware party, OK? But I know that the idea is to get a bunch of people you know together, have some sort of faux party and try to sell them something. There are a million different versions of this “monetize your friends” angle. The problem is that when you’re gathered in a circle talking about the newest Apple rumor and half the people are secretly trying to sell you a sandwich container, it’s only a matter of time until the conversation goes from iMacs to re-sealable sandwich holders. In other words, the conversation quality is lower. If you are only waiting for me to shut up so you can make your pitch, what’s the point?

Art by Hugh

I’m clearly not the only one who feels this way. Listen to Kathy Sierra talk about social networking at something called the Gov 2.0 Expo.

On TIVOs and DVRs

If I’m right- and I am- that all of this social network marketing is really just some new age, dressed-up advertising, then how long before the conscripted universe of potential customers rebels? I have spent thousands of dollars on satellite TV, XM radio (though Mojo Nixon is in the process of single-handedly driving me away from it), TIVOs and the like, all in the name of ad-avoidance. Hell, I just bought a season pass of the current Big Brother season, just to avoid having to fast-forward through the ads. There are entire industries based on avoiding the very thing marketers want to subject us to.

It boggles my mind that so many people are betting so much on the infinite willingness of people to be marketed to.

Anyone Remember Email?

At the end of the day, most of this social networking business is just an email replacement that people use, generally on their own time, to communicate with friends and have fun. Business, even if you try to disguise it, thrust into a goodtime is a buzz kill. Period. It’s spam 2.0.

If we react so negatively and passionately to spam in our email inbox, how can anyone expect us to allow spam in our social stream?

We won’t. Because at the end of the day, people hate advertising. They always have and they always will.

What About the Two Exceptions?

I’m glad you asked. There are exactly two times when people will seek out contact with companies. To get something cheaper and when something is broken. These are very different situations, and only one of them is an opportunity for companies to improve their brand.

I don’t like coupons, and I hate rebates. That whole business makes me feel like a lion standing in front of a burning hoop. It would be more fun to bite the head off of the person expecting me to jump through it, but it would be easier (i.e., it would save me a few dollars) to jump. No company has ever made me feel affection by offering me a coupon or a rebate. Sure I may buy your product and fill in your stupid rebate form, but I’ll hate you for it.

The way to my heart is to forget marketing and just make a great product.

Product support is a different story. When something breaks, I want to get it fixed, quickly (because, again, time is precious) and permanently. There have been many instances in which a blog post here or a post on Twitter has resulted in a email from a support person offering assistance. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Your third request that I “Like” your Facebook page, not so much.

Companies should send their support department to the social networks, not the
ir marketing department.

The Bottom Line

People hate ads. People want to buy things their way, on their terms and without a lot of hoopla. Nothing is going to change this. If companies want to improve their brand via the social networks, they have to stop trying to turn the internet into a giant tupperware party, and focus on giving customers what they really want- a great product with great support.

The Mac-age: Could the New Mac Pro Cause Me to Go All-Apple?

When I bought my first iPhone back in 2008, I was a dedicated Apple skeptic. I hadn’t used a Mac since the Lisa 2 era, and had no plans of ever using one again (unless Apple were to issue a new version of my beloved Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure; I’ve always said I’d switch my entire computing universe to Macs, if I could play that game again).

Anyway, I now own an iPhone, an iPad, and two Mac Minis, which as I noted the other day are the best home media option. I like Front Row and, thanks to a comment to my last post, I installed and really like Plex.

As a matter of fact, I am seriously considering dumping DirecTV (and the never-ending “Searching for signal in Satellite In 2” message that keeps denying me True Blood) in favor of some combination of an OTA antenna, Netflix, iTunes and, maybe Hulu Plus (I got my beta invite a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t checked it out yet).

My only holdout remains my desktop. I use one of the Mac Minis on the desktop periodically, and have become very comfortable with OS X. Some things, most notably web browsing, just seem to look better in OS X. I recently bought and really, really like dual Dell UltraSharp U2711 monitors (these beauties are so bright and vibrant that I feel like I need shades to use them; and I mean that in a good way), so an iMac in not an option for me. It might be an option for my wife, who seems to destroy any electronic device she uses semi-regularly. I genuinely think she has some electro-magnetic aura that kills electronics. It would make a great X-Files episode.

Neither she nor I are computer gamers (again, in my case, pending the return of OIdyssey), which may be a good thing if either of us ends up with an iMac and a Magic Mouse. Here’s the quote of the year so far in an otherwise positive Engadget review of the new iMacs:

[W]e don’t think hardcore gamers are going to flock to the Mac at these numbers, but you’re not going to be unhappy if you’re just looking to have some fun. (Playing any of these games with the Magic Mouse will make you tear your hair out and light your skull on fire, however, but that’s a different story.)

This leaves the forthcoming Mac Pro, as the only carrot that could draw me across the all-Mac line. I still think they are too expensive. However, the beautifully designed and easily upgradable case is very appealing to me. I have even convinced myself that I don’t need Blu-ray on my desktop (though it is irritating that Mac Minis don’t have Blu-ray, as that requires me to keep a stand-alone DVD player). What it comes down to is noise. Or the lack of it.

As anyone who knows me (for example, my neighbors with the barking dog) will confirm, I am very sensitive to noise. I’m a super-light sleeper, and anything more than a pin drop will wake me up, and keep me awake. My current HP desktop isn’t loud, but it isn’t quiet either. I’d probably pay a premium for a Mac Pro- if it were really quiet. I’m betting it’s not, but I’ll certainly inquire once the new models hit the street. A rocking new Mac Pro, with my current monitors and Parallels installed in the name of Live Writer would work nicely. Very nicely.

In the meantime, here’s some bonus video of yours truly playing Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure in 1985. I really loved that game.

Why doesn’t someone port this game to the iPhone/iPad? I’d buy many copies, just to show my thanks.

Bonus tech support for Google searchers who will have this problem: if you buy a Dell UltraSharp U2711 monitor and have a bad picture, be sure you are using dual-link DVI cables (one came in the box with the monitor). They look similar to, but are not the same as, older DVI cables. You can’t use your existing standard DVI cables. Trust me. It took me about a half hour to figure this out.

Why a Mac Mini is the Best Home Media Option

Like a lot of techophiles, I have struggled mightily with bringing computer apps and internet content to my home theater set up. I’ve tried full size computers, small computers, various streaming solutions and all sorts of other equipment, all in the name of television and internet convergence.

Everything works a little and it seems like nothing works really well.

This weekend, I found my answer. A Mac Mini. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best solution I have found so far.

By a wide margin.

Sure, I tried a Mac Mini before. But it died a premature death so I took a while to try again.

I also recently tried a Dell Inspiron Zino. These are nifty little computers, and its small footprint will find it a place in the house, likely as a replacement for my kids’ older and bigger shared computer. Plus, it has a Blu-ray drive, which the Mac Mini stubbornly lacks (thereby prolonging the need for a stand alone DVD player). But the Windows big screen media experience is just not satisfying. I don’t like things to be too simple in a desktop environment, but when you’re on the couch chilling, simple is good.

And for better or worse, Apple tries to make the media process pretty simple.

I also tried- and loved- Apple TV. But three things make the Mac Mini a better choice.

1. It does what the Apple TV does, plus the entire range of other computer and internet functions.

2. I don’t know what Apple has in store for the Apple TV, but the two most likely things are massive changes or death.

3. Parallels.

Parallels is a pretty nifty program that lets you run Windows 7 and Windows apps inside of and along with OS X. So I can have the best of both worlds. As we speak, I am installing Windows Live Writer on my Mac.

Scary thought: if I find little or no performance degradation when running Windows apps on a Mac via Parallels, it could lead me to make my next desktop a Mac. I just need to find an extra $10K or so to recreate the dual monitor Windows setup I have now. People try to tell me that Macs are not overpriced, but one trip to the Apple store to configure a Mac Pro with lots of storage and two monitors proves otherwise.

Front Row is a beautiful app for viewing photos and videos and for listening to music. I just wish it had iTunes store integration so I could buy movies from within the app (and completely avoid that blight that is the iTunes app). The inability to purchase media within Front Row and the need to suffer iTunes is, by far, the biggest feature deficiency in the Mac Mini as home theater experience.

But it’s still the best option out there.

At the end of the process, I’ll probably have two Mac Minis in operation. One in my study (where the current one resides) and one in the theater room, so my wife and kids can access our music, photos and home movies.

It’s hard to believe how far I have come in my Apple journey.

Why You Should Dump Your iPad

And why I’m not.

Vivek Wadhwa at TechCrunch sets forth the best argument I’ve ever read for dumping your iPad. He sets forth various reasons, but it really comes down to three. No useful way to use Microsoft Office, reliance on the outdated, ugly and unnecessary iTunes, and the lack of a camera.

As it turns out, I just returned from vacation. 10 days in God’s country (that would be South Carolina for you geographic heathens). My job requires that I be generally accessible and have the capability to review and approve Word documents (for those who haven’t read Newsome.Org in a few days, no one in corporate America uses or in my lifetime will use any of the so-called Office alternatives, and any argument to the contrary is naive).

All of this left me with a packing dilemma. I love my iPad and use it all the time. I haven’t carried a laptop since I bought my iPad, and I haven’t needed one. But I also hadn’t been away from home and the office for 10 straight days.

So I got nervous, pussed out and, along with my iPad, toted a laptop and all the related gear all the way to Pawley’s Island. I felt more comfortable knowing that I could review and revise Word documents from the beach.

The thing is, I never used it.

Sure, I was in contact with my office and clients every day. But I did it all via email, on my iPad. While the lack of Office is a big issue for iPads, there’s no denying that you can easily read Word documents. It’s only when you want to revise or create one that the frustration level skyrockets.

And the fact is that at this point in my career, I’m much more likely to be reading, commenting on and approving Word documents than writing them from whole cloth. And I found it to be easy enough (enough being the operative word) to copy and past portions of a document into an email, then paste such portion again below and revise it the way I wanted.

At the end of the day, many of my vacation emails read something like this:

“Change this part:

‘The problem with the iPhone 4 antenna is massive and should be the subject of a massive recall.’

to this:

“‘The problem with the iPhone 4 antenna is a partially a common cell phone issue exacerbated by an Apple design choice and largely bad editorial choices by lazy media.’

It’s not perfect, but it worked well enough for me.

So while the iPad most certainly needs a better way to work with Office documents (Microsoft being the only solution), and a camera or two and while iTunes is perhaps the worst application ever, I’m keeping my iPad.

But you’ll probably see my laptops on Craigslist before long.

Delaney Wins!

The 2010 SWAL Championship was held last night at Lamar High School in Houston. Delaney won the Freestyle, in a highly anticipated, very close and unbelievably exciting race. She also won the Breaststroke and was second in the Backstroke. Her medley relay team came in second, giving her two golds and two silvers for the night.

The Freestyle final was among my happiest moments, ever. It’s hard to describe how proud I am of her.

She’s done with SWAL events for the summer, but will continue to swim for Rice Aquatics.

Compression Depression & the iPhone 4 (Updated)

Yes, I stood in line for hours. Yes, I’m a nerd. And yes, the new iPhone is awesome.

One of the biggest reasons I was willing to get up at 5:00 a.m. and trek off to the dreaded mall is the new camera features. Front and back, flash and high definition.

Which is all great. In theory. Unfortunately, I have run into two hurdles that are all but killing my iPhone video buzz.

Buzz Kill 1: Too Much Compression.

Videos shot on the new iPhone look great, on the iPhone. And it simply could not be easier to upload video from the iPhone to YouTube. The big, massive, honking problem is that somewhere between the iPhone and YouTube the video is compressed so much, it looks like something from the nineties. As in the 1890’s.

Here’s the way my test clip looks on YouTube.

Now on Vimeo

That’s a lot better, although it still looks a little grainy when you view it full screen (see the little icon with four arrows). Why in this age of infinite cloud storage and broadband do we compress video at all?

There’s no excuse for over-compressing it the way the YouTube process does. In a few years we’re all going to have the same dilemma we faced after initially ripping our CDs at 128 Kbps. Those who forget history, and all that.

All of this makes the iPhone largely unworkable as a camcorder substitute, particularly if you aren’t near your computer, because. . .

Buzz Kill 2: No Easy Way to Move Videos

Even if I was willing to forego the convenience of an immediate upload and work with the native video files, there is no way to easily move video files off of the iPhone when you aren’t in front of your computer. Sure, Dropbox lets you upload video files easily, but they are over-compressed before they are uploaded, even if you select the highest quality in the app settings.

32GB is a lot of space when you’re near home, but not when you go on a vacation. And plan to take your iPad in lieu of a laptop.

There may be a workaround for this series of problems, but I haven’t found it yet.

I’m still mourning my buzz.

Update:

It looks like the inability to upload videos in HD over the air is a known and much bemoaned feature deficit with the new iPhones. The man himself says we’ll be able to upload in HD “in the future.”

A commenter on the post above says that the Pixelpipe app will upload HD video to YouTube now, but I don’t have that app so I can’t verify it.