Download the show here, via iTunes, or listen above
Chad returns after a long absence to chat with Guy, Tim, and Robert about which Mac gifts you would give and like to get. If you have a Mac user on your holiday gift list, give this show a listen. Also, John Nemo shares some music recorded on his Edirol R-09. And finally, David Cohen looks at what Leopard brings to the table in a Windows world.
As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.
Links from the show
Imaingo speakers
EA Games
VMware Fusion
MyBook External HD
Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3
by Scott Kelby
Peachpit Press
ISBN 978-0-321-50192-9, 239 pages
US$49.99, CN $56.99, UK £29.99
Since last Summer I have increased my use of Photoshop CS2 and now CS3 on nearly a weekly basis. Much of the reason is because of the work I do as a wedding photographer, and the other reason because of my goal to take my Photoshop skills to an advanced level. In the last few years, I’ve taken a class on Photoshop basics and I have fumbled around with its buttons and tools until I’ve gotten selected photos to look better than the original version. My current skills are largely based on what I’ve learned from reading and using Scott Kelby’s numerous books and some useful Photoshop tutorial websites. But while I aced the Intro to Photoshop class and can easily follow almost any good tutorial, I have yet to develop a strong workflow in Photoshop whereby I can look at a photo and know step-by-step how to make it better.
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Crumpler’s “The Cashmere Blazer” Messenger Bag
Company: Crumpler
Price: $180 plus optional accessories
http://www.crumplerbags.com/Cart/index.php?catId=5
Well, I am at it again, looking for that ultimate in a laptop messenger bag, and this time I turn to Crumpler’s “The Cashmere Blazer.” This is the showpiece of Crumpler’s bags, and I must say, this bag is amazing and beautiful. I was again looking for a messenger bag with a more “professional” look, one I could easily carry into the office and not get kidded about bright orange florescent colors blinding everyone as I rode in the elevator or walked down the hall (not that there is anything wrong with that!) The black version of this bag, which has been so popular that I had to wait almost 6 months to try one, is a beautiful piece of engineering. With black front, back and bottom and sides of dark green, this bag will work well in a professional environment as well as a casual setting. By the way, if black is not your thing, relax, this bag is available in two tone red, blue, beige, and brown as well.
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If you haven’t noticed yet, each of Apple’s main creative suite applications including iMovie, iDVD, Address Book, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and now, Mail’s Stationery feature, includes a photo browser whereby you can access photos stored and managed in your iPhoto and Aperture libraries. This means that if you’re sending an email, creating a DVD slide show, editing a video movie, creating a postcard or newsletter letter layout in Pages, or putting together a spreadsheet in which you need photos or images, you can now access your images directly from the program you’re working in.
Rick Sammon’s Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD
by Rick Sammon, Directed by David Leveen
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com/compbooks
ISBN: 9780470180754
DVD
US: $19.99, CAN: $23.99
Rick Sammon is clearly a talented photographer, as evidenced by a liberal sprinkling of his work throughout this Photo Workshop DVD. He also is an energetic and talented communicator and teacher, qualities that most photographers, regardless of their picture making talent, often lack.
The Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD seems to be aimed at first-time DSLR owners, and Rick certainly has far more than a few things to teach them. Much of the material is pretty universal, but the DVD is specifically aimed at owners of Canon’s Rebel XTi. As this is a best-selling entry-level camera at the moment, I suppose that it doesn’t limit the market for this instructional DVD too much, though owners of other DSLRs would benefit from most of the same material. This is definitely an upbeat video with a lot of good information for a beginning photographer.
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Download the show here, or via iTunes. You can also listen with the player above.
Guy Serle, Tim Robertson, Bill Palmer, and Chris Seibold turn a Skype call into this weeks podcast. Topics include: does Steve Jobs think the iTouch is an iPhone training devise? Does Mr. Jobs hate the iPod Classic? Does Microsoft innovate? Is MP3 dead? Plus, John Nemo begins his evaluation of the Edirol R-09 portable audio recorder with two interviews.
As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.
Links from the show
Edirol R-09
Yes, the leaf season is over, but Fall doesn’t officially end until December 20th. However, mother nature doesn’t go exactly by the calendar, at least here in Southern New Hampshire.
These are my last pictures from the Fall colors, taken in and around the town that I live in here in New Hampshire, Peterborough.
Peterborough is nestled in the heart of the Monadnock Mountain range in south central New Hampshire.
Today, the day after Thanksgiving, we followed our usual family tradition and went out to the woods to cut down the family Christmas trees.
yeah…it’s a Griswold Family Christmas here in New Hampshire…..
To check out the weather and the seasons here in NH, visit my weather site:
RichLefko.com Weather in NH
Enjoy the pictures…..most need no comment…
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There are times when you know Apple does something right when, at first, you really don’t see the point. Case in point, Photo Booth.
When Apple first demonstrated Photo Booth, I really didn’t see the point. Sure, it looked like a cute little application that took advantage of the built-in iSight camera on Macs with a built-on camera, such as the Macbook, Macbook Pro, and the iMac. But what was really the point in it?
Sometimes, not having a real point is, in fact, the whole point. As a father of three girls, with a boy on the way, I now see what a new iMac and Photo Booth can do. For the last half-hour, all three of the kids (ages 13, 12, and 4) have spent a delightful time sitting in front of the iMac, making themselves look crazy. They have all been laughing heartily the entire time, taking turns making up the funniest pictures. Here are some examples:
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With the release of Leopard comes the integration of a workspaces program into the operating system. With this feature being bundled with Leopard it will have many people asking the question, “What do I need this for?” a question I asked myself before I began using a pre-Leopard workspaces program called Desktop Manager. I fell in love with it to the point where I had to get the Google Desktop on my PC just so I could take advantage of Workspaces.
The benefit is especially powerful on a Macbook, where the screen resolution has a maximum limit of 1280 x 800. This resolution proves to be a powerful disadvantage when compared to the normal resolution on my desktop of 1600 x 1200. I was limited on the Macbook and it drove me insane. Desktop Manager solved that problem, and now Spaces will solve the problem for the millions who have and will upgrade their systems to Leopard.
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Zeppelin iPod Speaker
Company: Bowers & Wilkins
Price: $600
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/
* * * * *
Bowers & Wilkins’ premium Zeppelin iPod speaker is many things: the biggest, heaviest, most expensive, most beautiful, unusually-shaped iPod accessory to date, with the best bass, most magnificent overall audio clarity, plus most peculiar iPod dock, and weirdest remote control of all. You can read its specifications here, and for now you can only test drive or purchase Zeppelin at an Apple retail or online store in the United States. Additional purchase locations will be available in 2008.
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The MyMac.com secret spy team has uncovered these topsecret plans. They are no longer SECRET plans!
Digital Photography: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks, 3rd Edition
by Rob Sheppard
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wiley.com
ISBN: 0470147660
221 pages, paper, full color
US: $19.99, CAN: $23.99, UK: £13.99
Like other excellent titles in Wiley’s Visual series, Rob Sheppard’s book on digital photography is well organized and makes extremely good use of photos to illustrate techniques described in the text. In some ways, the title of the book may do it a disservice: don’t think that you will only get 100 tips; there are tips and tricks lodged within the 100 labeled tips. Also, the book provides sound advice for taking better photos, be they digital or not.
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Download the show here, subscribe in iTunes, or listen above
David, Guy, and Tim pour over the multitude of updates from Apple this week, including Mac OS X 10.5.1, iPhoto, Bento, Final Cut Express 4, and much more. John Nemo has a conversation with Morten Warren from Native Design, Ltd. Robert chimes in on Leopard. And David Cohen chats up Entourage in Fenestration.
As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.
Links from the show
Bento
Native Design Ltd.
B&W Zeppelin
WhatSize from ID-Design, Inc.
AppZapper
Finally getting to it
In parts 1 through 4 of this article we discussed iWeb and its interface and finally we are ready to start talking about making web pages! What you want your web site to communicate to your audience is entirely up to you but remember that if they can’t figure out how to navigate your site and read your content, you’ve failed to make a good web site. You’re welcome of course to have obscure pictures that fade in and out for your navigation (and yes that is technically possible in iWeb), but unless having the audience hate you is the look and feel you’re going for, standard internal and external links will probably do nicely.
Because most of the functionality I’ll be talking about in this part of the article is done through the “Inspector” window, when I talk about which part of the Inspector to go to, you’ll see something like this: Inspector/Page/Layout. The first part (in this case the Inspector) is the window, the second (Page) is the icon to choose within the window, and the third (Layout) is whatever other button within the icon choice is required. I’ll be doing much the same once we start talking about other floating menus (like the “Color” and “Media” windows).
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Octava 4×1 HDMI Switch with 4×1 Optical Audio
Company: Octava Inc.
Price: $274 ($294 with multiple cable options). Shipping included.
http://www.octavainc.com
I had a problem (I’m sure my brother, Guy Serle, would put that statement into the present tense…). I started putting together a home theater system with a 1.67 GHz Core Duo Mac mini at its heart. That’s when I discovered I was short some inputs.
My A/V receiver, an Onkyo TX SR-803 receiver, no longer in production, has a number of inputs, including two HDMI (high definition multimedia interface), but as I was doing some upgrades to my home theater, I found I needed at least one more. My HDTV, a Panasonic PT-50DL54 50 inch DLP rear projection (also no longer in production), only had one HDMI input, so there was no help there.
Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages
Dave Taylor
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 076453484X
Price: Variable (out of print, but available via Amazon.com)
Page Count: 440
Once upon a time, I had a whole shelf-full of HTML how-to books. You know the kind, HTML for Imbeciles, I Hate to Code HTML, The Super Easy Way To Write HTML Pages for the Complete Illiterate, etc. Several years ago, I was able to put them all in the recycling bin and switch to a single resource book, Dave Taylor’s Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages. My copy was published in 1998, so it’s almost ten years old, but it is still an incredibly valuable reference book when all you need to do is do some basic no-frills HTML coding. CSS? Not here. XHTML? Nope. References to high-end HTML design tools? Not a chance. Those tools weren’t around when this book was published. People were still using Adobe’s much (deservedly) maligned PageMill in 1998. Talk about a program that completely refused to do your bidding!
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Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
Company: Electronic Arts
Price: $49.95
http://www.commandandconquer.com/
This feels like deja vu. Back in 1997, I remember editing and publishing a review of Command & Conquer for the Macintosh from Shay Fulton. He gave it high marks. In fact, shortly after his review, easily within a year, I purchased the game myself, as well as the follow-up games in the series. But it has been, literally, six years since I last played a game in this series.
Back then, the game was made by Westwood Studios, who was acquired by video game maker powerhouse EA back in 1998. So at the last Macworld Expo, when Steve Jobs talked about games coming back to the Macintosh with EA leading the way, I was very interested in playing Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. Would it be like revisiting an old friend? Have my days playing all three of the new consoles (Wii, PS3, and XBox 360) spoiled me from playing computer games? Will the Beatles every show up in iTunes?
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PowerTune iPod All-in-One Battery Pack / Speaker / Protective Case / Stand
for 5G (Video) or New Classic iPod
Company: MacAlly
Price: $50
http://www.macally.com
MacAlly’s versatile new PowerTune is the best $50 U.S. iPod accessory ever. As a case, its rigid plastic is snug and secure, with full access to iPod dial and headphone port, but not on/off/hold switch. The speakers are tiny with midrange emphasis, but with enough presence to keep you entertained or informed by whatever is playing on the iPod under most listening conditions. Charging is efficient and almost effortless, with enhanced built-in battery capacity for your iPod. As a stand, PowerTune is stable, with sensible positioning.
Speakers and charging indicator light are on lower front of PowerTune. Volume control, mini-USB port, and off/charge/play switch are lower rear. A clear front plate with circular hole hinges at the bottom and snaps shut at the top, onto the black rear business-end of the case. An iPod slips into a 30-pin dock connector that is just above the speaker section. MacAlly provides a self-adhesive foam shim to fill the gap between PowerTune’s black inner back and an iPod’s silver backside. Fit is snug, without much wiggle room.
There is not a lot more to know. You can play or charge an iPod with or without the assistance of a computer, or external speakers or headphones. PowerTune fits into most front pants pockets, or nearly all tote bags or purses. Indicator LEDs notify you when charging is complete. Syncing or recharging PowerTune via the included USB cable is straightforward.
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The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
By Jason Beaird
Publisher: SitePoint Pty. Ltd.
ISBN: 0-9758419-6-3
Price: $39.95 (PDF only, $29.95; hard copy + PDF, $49.90)
Page count: 180
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/design1/
Here’s a clue for you: designer Jason Beaird’s The Principles of Beautiful Web Design showed up in my mailbox shortly after publication this past April, and the first thing I did was drop everything and read it from cover to cover. For the record, I build Web sites myself and have a number of art and design classes to my credit. Jason Beaird paid a lot more attention to his teachers, and it shows.
Painter Essentials 4
Company: Corel
Price: $99.00 ($69.00 upgrade)
www.corel.com
Painter Essentials is to Painter what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop. It is what I would call the “slimmed” down version of Painter, but still fully usable. Just like Painter, Essentials is a natural media painting program that allows the user to paint and draw on the computer with tools he/she might use in “real life.” Also, like Painter X (which I reviewed earlier this year), Painter Essentials 4 is packed with great new features. For a list of all the new features in Painter Essentials 4 visit here.
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MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384