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iMovie 4 Tip: Snapping

I’m writing a review of iMovie 4, and making all sorts of notes. Here’s a quick tip: iMovie 4 features Timeline Snapping, which snaps the playhead to the nearest edit point with a little “snick” sound. You could enable this feature in iMovie’s preferences, but don’t bother. Instead, just hold Shift as you drag the ...

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iChat 2.1 beta

Apple has released a public beta of iChat 2.1, which makes it possible to engage in video and audio chats with Windows users running AIM 5.5. (Of course, I don’t know anyone using Windows and a Web cam, so I haven’t been able to test it yet.) iChat 2.1b also introduces a strange limitation: if ...

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Why Apple Stores Are Working

I’m writing about Final Cut Express 2 and ran into a problem importing footage from my camcorder. However, I couldn’t tell if the problem was caused by my equipment (a Canon ZR20 and PowerBook G4) or the software, and I don’t have another camera available to test. What to do? I headed down to my ...

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Fearsomely Effective

As a writer, I appreciate a good turn of phrase, and I’ve found a gem this week written by Rupert Goodwin in a ZDNet UK Diary where Rupert talks about using a webcam on a Wi-Fi train trip from London to Scotland: The four and a half hour journey slips by in a caffeinated haze: ...

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iChat Location Setter

Jason Snell at Macworld magazine wrote a clever AppleScript script for setting iChat’s status to reflect where he (or more specifically, his PowerBook) is located: iChat Knows Where I Am. [I know, this isn’t necessarily iMovie related, but I’ve been covering a gamut of topics over the past year, including my latest book iChat AV ...

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Oscars and LotR

The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, with 11 nods going to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, 10 to Master and Commander, and zero to Nicole Kidman. Pleasant surprises: Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider, and Bill Murray for Lost in Translation. I imagine that LotR will take Best Picture, though I ...

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iMovie Default Export Settings

Apple has released a Knowledge Base article that details the default iMovie export option defaults.

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More on iMovie-Edited Tarnation

Wired News ran a story about Tarnation, Jonathan Caouette’s iMovie-edited film now playing at Sundance: Here’s the Price of Fame: $218.32. Filmmaker Gus van Sant, who has signed on as an executive producer, is quoted as saying: “People assumed that one day film would be as accessible and inexpensive as writing, and now it practically ...

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Aloneliness in SF

I’m in San Francisco for the week following Macworld Expo while my wife attends a business event thrown by her company. It didn’t make sense for me to fly back to Seattle when she was coming down here, so we hooked up and now I’m the Hotel Husband while she goes off to work. Nonetheless, ...

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Leave Your Laptop at Home

Macworld Magazine has put an article of mine online (it originally appeared last month in the printed magazine): Leave Your Laptop at Home. Savvy business travelers know which clothes they can pack to keep their luggage light and manageable, but they should also know how to keep their electronic gear compact and easy to transport. ...

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