Hard Lesson

My son was working on a video project (gotta love the ease of using Mac's integrated programs). 2 1/2 hours of video, stills, soundtracks, stuff, added up to about 37 Gb, sitting in an external hard disc.

Job 3/4 done, looking nice, then the hard-disc is disconnected & the iMovie project file gets corrupted. Unuseable. Pretty sad son. 

An iMovie file is actually a kind of locked folder, called a package. We opened the package & found Timeline Movie, a "thumbnail" of the movie project so far (son is a regular saver luckily). That showed us enough to rebuild the lost stuff. And son went on to create a stunning little movie, with some original soundtrack (thanks Garageband), titles, transitions, etc, from iMovie & a natty DVD menu from iDVD.

But when you're editing movies, don't do anything else! You're just asking for trouble...

Motionboxbox offers a v generous movie storage online; I wonder if we'll see online editing? Not any time soon I think.

Podcasts & Vodcasts

Just had an inspired professional development session. The topic was podcasts. Yes, they've been around for years, & I've even made one or two; but the difference here was Macintosh.

I'm biased I know, but the Mac is just effortless. The free software is so well integrated. It's just click, drag, drop, record (with the built-in gear), tidy up, share, done. 

These were the steps:

1... Photobooth to make a picture (one for the iPod, Wallace & Gromit might say). 2 clicks

2... Garageband to create a podcast episode. 3 clicks + file name.

3... Photo shows up within Garageband. 1 click, 2 drags to place in the podcast.

4... 1 click to start recording, 1 click to stop.

5... Give yourself 4 click-&-deletes to cut out the umms & ahhs. 

6... Drag voice track to make space for intro music.

7... Say, 6 clicks to find some music in Garageband (there are over 1,000 tracks, so you may need longer).

8... Export the podcast. 4 clicks + file name.

Finished. It's that easy. Go into Dick Smith's & try it. Take a small person & show them Photobooth. You'll crack up laughing.

(22 clicks, 2 file names typed, 1 photo, 1 recording.)

At the session, we used Photobooth's 'green screen' effect to put ourselves in Paris or on the Moon. We did a basic video podcast (a 'vodcast') using Photobooth, then edited a fancier one using iMovie. Far too many sound effects to play with!

Sidetrack: the instructor didn't like the new iMovie (V7) as much as the old iMovie HD (V6), I view I share with her. We agreed Apple is probably hoping we'll buy Final Cut Express if we get frustrated with iMovie. iMovie HD is now free to download (OSX 10.4 recommended). Final Cut Express is $A268.

I hear the old hands saying, that's all very well, oh yes, nice toys, silly frills, but is this effective, & I don't have time to play around I've got work to do etc. etc. etc.

Two quick replies. Of course, you have to have good content: logical arguments, facts checked, something worth saying. And of course, present it well. 

What would you choose, good spelling or poor? Clear or fuzzy? Colour or black & white? Animated or static? In fact, it's a no-brainer.

Newer, lighter, nicer

I want a new computer. The new solid-state jobs look great; now I just have to justify the purchase. My biggest problem is my current machine, a beautiful Macbook Pro. It works too well.

I love my Macbook. The apostles of Bill Gates & Microsoft may goggle at this, but they're just easier. Yes! Quick eg: You want a new application. Step 1: copy into the Applications folder. Finish. That's all you do. To remove: delete it. That's it. And I've got Windows running simultaneously on a "virtual machine" platform-in-a-program. Why on earth? Work needs it. But back to solid-state computers.

The Register has an excellent article on small, cheap computers. One of their recommendations is the Asus eeePC. (I'm so glad they agree with me!) It's got a 9-inch screen, it weighs less than 1kg, it's about half A4 in size, and the battery lasts up to 8 hours. The secret is the hard disc... it hasn't got one, just a row of flash-memory chips. Yours for about $A500.

Imagine a school of these, connected wirelessly. Students carry them easily, they're economical, light & sturdy, batteries last a school day. Web, word process, spreadsheet, all there, & more. The money saved buys a Photoshop computer, a video edit computer for each class, and employs a local techie.

The computer, with the help of the Read/Write Web, becomes a tool, to do something wonderful with.

Google Chrome: that shiny & new?

Lots of chatter about Google Chrome lately. My first response was, another browser? Great! Us Mac-heads have been spoilt for choice for a while now. My second response was, oh, another Google toy. That's great, but since Google censored itself - for George Bush at the APEC conference in Sydney (technical issues my eye) - I've been a little uneasy about Google's reach. Anyone who gives Microsft a kick can't be all bad, but we sure don't want another Microsoft!

My third thought was, hey, I've seen all the new features in Opera! the sophisticated tabs -hello Microsoft!- and the thumbnail pages. Opera was even blogging before Google too. But you weren't American, Mr www.opera.no

The Virtual & the Real

Primary school homework is online. Well, at this stage it's a case of: find your class page, click on the links, do the interactive page from the BBC or whoever. Look, it's a start! And congrats to the chalkies for being so brave. I mean that.

What interested me was the Integrated Studies link, learn to play Mah Jongg. Mah Jongg is an ancient Chinese solitaire game??? My only proof this is total nonsense is a Chinese friend seeing the computer game & not linking it in any way to true Mah Jong - which is in fact a 4-handed game, similar in many ways to poker & rummy, & played everywhere there are 4 Chinese in one spot. Here's a discussion of computer Mah Jong, which goes back to the "ancient" days of the early 80s! It finds no good evidence of an old, real, version.

And what started this? A long time ago I played Mah Jong against my sister, over many years. It sort of works 2-handed, but with fewer chance throw-ins. So by checking my own age (don't ask), I know I pre-date any personal computer toy. Ah, I remember my dad starting up his "Macintosh" 128K, like it was yesterday. 1984 I think? The Happy Mac. The piece of paper, corner folded, on the desk. The little dustbin "under" the desk, that bulged. I distinctly recall the thought, "This is the future, from now on, all computers will work like this..."

Sorry, where was I.

There are two lessons here: internet is often mistaken, or plain wrong; it's strength (& weakness) is the ease any old stuff goes up there. And don't confuse computer-based, virtual & real: computers can do things nothing else can; but real is real, and "virtual reality" is in fact "imitation reality".