From Extreme to Extreme II
In January, I went from hectic insanity at Macworld Expo to the absolute calm of recuperating at my mom’s farm near Dixon, CA, anticipating a busy winter. I didn’t know at the time that my work schedule would be turned upside down. One thing I’ve learned as a freelance book author is that you can’t ...
A New Boom in User-Created Content
The New York Times has an article today about how many sites are turning to user-generated content (specifically video, but also some general information) and offering cash rewards: Online Auteurs Hardly Need to Be Famous. Yahoo recently scaled back plans to create original programming in favor of putting up free user-created stuff. As you might ...
iMovie Speed on MacBook Pro
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been using a MacBook Pro on loan from Apple. My review of it appears in today’s Seattle Times: Mac’s first Intel-driven laptop: A taste of speed. Using the MacBook Pro normally doesn’t feel all that speedy; things feel a bit more peppy, but nothing mind-blowing. However, I did a few ...
MacBook Pro and HDV Capture
In a bit of excellent timing, I currently have a MacBook Pro and a Sony HDR-HC1 HDV camcorder for a couple of weeks (alas, I don’t get to keep either of them). I’m going to be doing some testing and shooting HD footage for the next revision of the iMovie HD/iDVD Visual QuickStart Guide, so ...
Apple iMovie Plug-In Missing on Intel Macs?
I’m testing a new MacBook Pro and ran into an odd dialog in iMovie after clicking the Media pane: “The plugin ‘Twirl.bundle’ cannot be loaded, because it isn’t designed to run on this computer.” My first suspicion was that some non-Intel-friendly code was moved over from my PowerBook G4 when I used the Migration Assistant, ...
My iMovie HD 6.0.1 Add-On Review
Macworld asked me to write up what’s changed in iMovie HD 6.0.1, which was published earlier this week: Review: iMovie HD 6.0.1. Basically, Apple fixed some of the annoying bugs and also addressed the problem I encountered with locked audio not staying locked. I also learned, but didn’t have room in the article to include, ...
Hands-On HDV
Studio Monthly has a great collection of real-world tips for shooting in HDV: <a title=" Studio Monthly | Hands-On HD: Getting the Most Out of High Def” href=”http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/tutorials/trainup/6147.html”>Hands-On HD: Getting the Most Out of High Def. (Via FreshHDV.) Okay, you’ve got the gear. (Or at least your favorite dealer lets you play with his stock.) ...
How Caffeine Works
Here’s a 1 minute video on how caffeine works: How Caffeine Works – Google Video. Cool!
Bah Hummer
A number of indie bands are turning down money from Hummer, which wants to license their songs in commercials: Bah Hummer. “My standard line is you guys will play a hundred million gigs before you see this amount of money,” Hysen said. “Usually they come back with, ‘We’ll do anything BUT Hummer.'” Right on. Though ...
NBC show ‘Conviction’ pilot debuts on iTunes, for free
NBC has released the pilot of it’s new show Conviction at the iTunes Music Store for free. What a great way to build buzz for a show. I’m grabbing it not only because I like the idea, but because my wife is a Law & Order: SVU fan. We may have to hunker over the ...
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 