Every time a new iOS device gets a camera, it seems like there’s some first with it: the first movie or music video or television show or bang bus episode. Here’s a new first: a Minneapolis man is the first to use his iPad 2 to report breaking news. Even more interesting is the man in question is Robert Stephens, who co-founded the Geek Squad, which is now owned by Best Buy.
Here’s what happened. Driving to work one day, Stephens saw a fireball erupt in the distance. He quickly whipped out his iPhone, and started recording the explosion while driving “to see if anyone had dialed 911 yet.”
Once Stephens got to the scene, he pulled into a nearby parking lot, transferred the footage from his iPhone 4 to his iPad 2 using Apple’s USB Camera Connection Kit, edited the footage with iMovie, added a map, subtitled it and added a voice over and uploaded the film to YouTube. Before long, his coverage was being used by CNN and MSNBC.
Pretty impressive. Just think of how quickly a seasoned journalist could have turned a report around with the iPad 2. Thanks to companies like Apple, we’re not living in an era of citizen journalism where a good story breaks in just minutes, not hours or days.
[via TUAW]
