We have an exciting update for all you iPhone or iPod Touch users out there! Matt and Craig episodes (the most recent 5, and soon more), are now available to be streamed to your Apple device. Just head on over to MattandCraig.com through your iPhone and click the “mobile” link in the navigation bar. This will open up the Safari friendly version of Matt and Craig, and give you a clean view of the videos you can stream over WiFi or the 3G network!

Enjoy these new imporvements!

-Matt

Hey guys,

Long time no write! Sorry for the lack of posting but today’s topic is what has actually been using most of my time. Vimeo has long been REP’s hosting service for Matt and Craig and my own personal videos. I’ve been very active on the site as a user and have made a good relationship with the staff, helping out in the forums and such.

Today however was a different day at Vimeo, today was the day Plus released. Plus is Vimeo’s new Pro service which allows users some advanced features that were not normally possible on the site. I was luckily enough to be chosen to beta test Plus before it was released (which is when I made the video above), and I have to say I’m very happy. Before Plus, Vimeo was already in my opinion the best hosting service out there. They allowed 500MB a week of upload space, supported HD videos, and their community and overall site design was a pleasure to be involved with.

But with Plus comes some major upgrades. As a Plus user you will now be allowed to upload up to 2GB per week, with a max of 1GB per file. You can now embed your HD videos in HD (previously not allowed even if it was HD on the Vimeo site), get priority uploading and higher conversion quality, and you can control the buttons on the embed players and where they can be embedded. All this for $59.95 a year with 1,000 free HD embed plays. The HD embeds work in packages, once your 1,000 plays are used up, you can purchase more starting at $9.95 for 1,000. With this upgrade also comes the changing of the free account, which now limits you to how many channels, albums, and groups you can create. You can also only upload one HD video per week.

Now in my opinion that is more than fare, after all if you plan on using Vimeo for anything more than that, you really should be considered a power user at that point anyway and pay Vimeo for their work. Either way Vimeo has always been the best in video hosting; quality wise, community wise, and technology wise. With the addition of Plus, this will only guarantee Vimeo’s long lasting success and prosperity.

Enjoy!

-Matt

Hey guys,

First let me start by saying sorry for the lack of updating. We’ve been extremely busy working on Matt and Craig Dot Com which has caused a little delay, not to mention the fact that Apple has once again failed me in my time of need, in other words, by MacBook fried. But aside from all that, a couple days ago Apple released what they are calling the first big update for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but it seems that problems still exist.

With the 2.0.1 update from Apple released a while back, we were still suffering with the lack of 3G consistency, not to mention the constant dropped calls. While some say this is a chip problem, most are convinced this is a firmware issue that can be cleared up with 2.0.2. But that said, 2.0.2 is out and people are still reporting issues. Now maybe it’s where I live (close enough to NYC), but I have not dropped a call  myself or had any issue with 3G. In fact if anything I’ve noticed an increase in signal strength throughout my area, not to mention an increase in 3G connectivity. However according to a email sent to MacRumors by Jobs himself, the new update would fix the 2% of iPhone’s that suffer from this issue.

Well I may not have an issue, but others report absolutely no change from this new update. 3G in some areas are still undeveloped according to the AT&T website that shows 3G coverage charts not being anywhere near as impressive as the EDGE network. This may be the cause, but others insist that their phones are “lemons” and are requesting Apple to replace them. While no official word from Apple has been released about this new update, we do have some knowledge as to what else is included in 2.0.2.

In addition to “fixing” 3G coverage, this new update also ads a “kill switch”. A security measure for the iPhone, should some malicious code make it’s way in via an app that’s not suppose to be there. While Apple claims they would only use the switch to kill phones apps temporarily, users are still furious, and complain the Jobs may have just a little to much power over their devices. However just doing a Google search will find multiple ways to disable the “switch”, therefore giving back some control.

Either way I am happy, my iPhone seems to be unaffected. But others are not so lucky. We can only hope that Apple can fix these 3G problems, that not only eat battery and cause massive dropped calls, but are turning many off to the device, as did it’s launch day.

Enjoy!

-Matt

Hey guys,

Well our contest is finally over. After a month of compiling around 30 video submissions, we have finally chosen our winner.

SwineFilms, a regular to Indy Mogul and YouTube, created a short film called “Jack and Jill”, where a brother and sister murder team is captured by investigators and taken back through their horrific incident via a found video tape. Out of all the videos we received, we felt that this one had the most handmade, yet professionally appeal. While others had some cool After Effects shots, and some used plenty of guns and gore, SwineFilms wasn’t distracted by effects and stuck to a cool story. So therefore we award SwineFilms with their well deserved iTunes gift card, and some great recognition.

Keep making great films and check back later when we have yet another iWebShow contest!

Enjoy!

-Matt

Just a quick reminder, our video contest is ending today. Please submit your videos by 11:59 EST tonight for them to be accepted. We’ve had a great submission rate so far and we’re looking forward to announcing the winner!

Enjoy!

-Matt

Hey guys,

A former team from Google has released a new search engine apparently more accurate and larger than Google. How does it fair? Well it’s not bad.

Cuil is the brain child of Tom Costello and Anna Patterson, Tom a search engine expert, and Anna a former Google employee. Together along with the help of a rather small staff have created a search engine to give Google a run for it’s money. Though it doesn’t include extras like Google’s ability to create accounts or custom searches, it does have some pretty amazing features. It has an auto search drop down too guess what you want to find, tabbed searching within the same window, roll over definitions, categories, and the ability to recognize a person’s name and associate that name with different companies or people.

Overall the site is simple yet advanced, with some obvious new coding that makes the site easy to use, but still holds a clean looks. Another thing it has over Google is it’s privacy options, which basically don’t exist because there is no privacy to be lost. The site does not store anything about a users searches, it doesn’t store cookie information, nor does it share with other websites. Oh did I mention it has indexed over 120 Billion pages while Google is only at 40.

This site is sweet, while it may take a while for people to migrate from Google, it will be nice to have a backup search engine that’s so simple, but private and extremely useful. We give it a B, it’s almost there. Head on over to cuil.com to try your hand at a search, you’ll be happy you did.

Enjoy!

-Matt

Just a reminder, our contest ends soon. So please enter your videos and encourage anyone who has a 5 minute or less action film to enter as well.  Check out the original post to see the rules. We’ll announce the winner soon!

Enjoy!

-Matt

The Dark Knight is the vision of Chris Nolan, a brilliant director who has brought the dream of many fans to life. The Dark Knight is Nolan’s finest work to date and finally captures the character of Batman the way he should have been seen from the beginning, dark and bleak.

What can I say here? You’ve all read the reviews, you’ve all heard about Heath Ledger’s death, you’ve all seen the trailer. But was the Dark Knight really everything it was cracked up to be? Yes. This movie is quite possibly the film that will define our generation. Every 10 years it seems we come by a movie that is known as a mark for that time period, and so the Dark Knight marks ours. The movie itself is a visual masterpiece. Limited CGI with loads of real-world special effects, not to mention characters that not for one minute bore you. One thing we always find in movies is that there are sad scenes that just for the most part interrupt a films progression and take viewers out, but not this film. Even when there was no action currently taking place (which was rare) there was some type of fast paced feeling that didn’t take away from the story but kept your eyes glued.

Another unsurprising development is that Batman himself isn’t as much of a star as the Joker. We saw what happened in the trailer, but man, this guy is messed up. What will go down as Ledger’s finest performance, the Joker is a dark and twisted character that you can fear but at the same time love and want to watch. Ledger brings him to life with tiny little character flaws like his obsessive ability to lick his lips or how he likes to change the story about his scars every time he tells it. Two-Face or Harvey Dent is another interesting character. A constant character throughout, Harvey keeps you interested as Gotham’s last hope for normality, but makes an interesting an immediate change towards the end, and then actually carries our story out. Basically the character’s make this film, and you immediately understand them.

Going back to visuals, Nolan doesn’t like CGI. That being said this movie has some of the most nerve racking scenes I’ve ever sat through (I jumped a couple times). Things like Two-Face’s well…face, is beautiful (in a sick way). The effect is so perfect that for once I forget I’m watching a computer and actually listen to him speak. Another beautiful scene is the car chase towards the end, which if you listen closely, will notice that there is no music, just the beautiful sounds of metal against concrete. Every action sequence is shot so well that they flow right into the next scene without having to transition. My personal favorite being the 18 wheeler flip which marks the first time an 18 wheeler has ever been flipped forward without the use of CGI (that’s right, they really flipped it).

Unfortunately I cannot go any deeper without giving more of the film away. If you see one movie this year (besides WALL E), you must make it this one. A killer cast, heart-pounding scenes, beautifully shot, and twisted in the most amazing way. The Dark Knight sets the standard for any super hero movie to come.

Enjoy!

-Matt

The X-Files has forever been my favorite TV show next to my 90’s cartoons, but Mulder and Scully are done fighting the future and now they want to believe. But the new film raises some very important questions, will it continue the good name of Fox and Dana, or is the filing cabinet doomed to the basement of the FBI?

I’ve watched the trailer for the new X-Files movie multiple times, if not to just try and figure out what the hell I’m looking at. The movie is extremely secretive, like any major film that isn’t meant to be “discovered”, The X-Files are being kept very much under wraps. While reading the latest article from TV Guide, you can see how much effort went into keeping the just the script from being read. But either way I suppose that’s a good thing, the trailer does one thing that many people no longer recognize…it doesn’t give the whole movie away. Basically from what I gather the film takes place where Fox Mulder and Dana Scully would be after 6 years apart. They are called in by a new agent played by Amanda Peet to get help on a case they would be experts in, therefore beginning yet another adventure.

So far the plot sounds good, Chris Carter even mentions that this movie can be viewed by anyone and is not just a movie for the fan boys. But let’s talk about what could ruin it. For one you have Xzibit, the rapper turned actor whose name I can barely spell, just like I can barely watch him act. At first I thought this was just another movie that was going to cast “famous” people to get attention. But from the screenshots of Xzibit, we can see a clean cut man who looks like he may be able to pull it off. Amanda Peet is another interesting choice, however I don’t doubt her acting ability…that much. Let’s just say I’d much rather have Agent Doggett along side Scully and Mulder rather than these guys. Another thing we have to look out for is the possibility that hey, maybe the plot does suck. Aliens under ice is what we’ve taken away so far, but really, can it work? Well Fight The Future was pretty good about balancing aliens and, well, everything else. But a priest, ice, and a short shot of bloody eyes isn’t convincing me.

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I can only hope that this film does what everyone wants it to, to continue the good name of The X-Files and keep people looking outside their windows at night. This movie has potential as long as Mr. Carter takes it seriously and makes this a overall good movie and not just some money maker shoot em’ up. So yeah…just a thought.

Enjoy!

-Matt

The iPhone’s pricing was just announced and boy it is unpleasant. The phone will cost $199 or $299 when signing for a new 2 year plan. However, they begin to sky rocket there after.

AT&T really know what they’re doing, turns out the iPhone will cost much more than we had ever imagined. For users willing to sign a new contract it will cost $199 or $299, but for other customers the pricing will be much different. Expect to pay $299 or $499 for the phone if it isn’t time to renew your contract. Oh, don’t like contracts? Well then, expect to pay up to $500 for the phone then. We knew this was happening but I mean really, this is worse than we thought. The Internet is already a buzz with this new information and people are needless to say, pissed.

The chart below shows how the phone will actually cost you $160 more after 2 years than the original iPhone, this of course includes the data plan and the extra $5 SMS plan that you will need to even match the original 200 SMS’s that the first iPhone already gave you. Why Apple? Why can we not just have it for the same price? I’d rather pay $400 up front knowing that’s what I’m paying then think I’m paying $199 just to get slammed with hidden fees. Apple, I love you, but this is beyond annoying.

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