Toby Young’s Slate Diary
This week I’ve enjoyed A weeklong�journal from�a writer in Los Angeles, a series of dispatches in Slate written by British writer Toby Young. I was surprised to learn that the Cheescake Factory rates highly among restaurants (this coming from a former food critic), and that good Hollywood paprazzi work more surreptitiously than what we expect. ...
Ken Burns Zoom Out Speed
Fellow author Jim Heid is working on his Macintosh iLife ’04 book and wondered if I’d encountered the following problem: when you zoom out in a photo, the zoom affect starts slow and then ends quickly and abruptly. He writes: There seems to be a problem with the Ken Burns effect in iMovie 4: If ...
New iBooks & PowerBooks
Apple released new iBooks and PowerBooks today, with faster specs and, nicely, a faster SuperDrive (4x vs. 2x).
Ballistic Nylon
One of the joys of working for TidBITS is that we learn more about the words we use. In last week’s issue, I wrote an article about what to look for when buying a laptop bag. So tonight I received an email from one of our translators asking, “I see the term ‘ballistic nylon’ everywhere, ...
How to Build a $14 Steadicam
Dori points to a page on how to build a $14 Steadycam.
Writerspeak
I printed out a cartoon years ago that still hangs outside my office door. I thought about it tonight and wanted to see if it was still online, and it is (even though the online mag that published it, Suck, folded long ago): Translating Writerspeak into English. Here’s another one on the same theme: Writerspeak!
How a New Coffee Grinder Makes All the Difference
I’ve been a coffee fan for a while, but I’ve gotten more serious about it since my wife bought me a La Pavoni Europicola for our ten-year wedding anniversary. Since I had moved up to a better machine than my trustworthy Krups Mini, I decided it was time to buy a burr grinder to go ...
CaffeDerm at ThinkGeek
OMG, I must have this! ThinkGeek :: CaffeDerm “So drop that Dew, put down that Jolt catheter, and grab hold of our newly patented CaffeDerm® caffeine patches – they easily apply to your shoulder and provide a steady dose of caffeine throughout the day. These calorie-free fixes are just enough to keep you from ripping ...
iChat AV 2.2 Public Beta is Out!
Hot on the heels of iChat AV 2.1: iChat AV 2.2 Public Beta Adds MSN Support. [Be sure to read the rest of the April 1, 2004 issue of TidBITS, too!]
I Review iMovie 4, iDVD 4 for Macworld
Macworld Magazine has posted their review of iLife ’04, which includes reviews I wrote about iMovie 4 and iDVD 4. Check ’em out, and tell me if you agree or disagree with my conclusions.
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 