Prelude To Innovations in Motion

Amazon.com's response to my letter on the pricing of my Lost, Season 2 DVD Set

September 10, 2006

It seems that I have won! (note: I removed bits from the letter that were irrelevant to my victory.)

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

The discounts we offer for items on our web site do vary from time to
time. I've checked your order, and found that we recently offered a
greater discount on "Lost - The Complete Second Season" than at the
time you placed your order.

Since this item was shipped so recently, I have requested a refund of
$2.88 to your credit card. This amount reflects the difference
between the price you were charged and the discounted price. The
refund should be processed in the next few days and will appear as a
credit on your next billing statement.

I hope this solution is satisfactory. Thank you for shopping at
Amazon.com--we hope you will visit us again soon.

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept
incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section
of our web site.

Best regards,

Pradeep V.
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

My letter to Amazon.com on the pricing of my Lost, Season 2 DVD Set

September 09, 2006

"Hi, I paid $38.87 for this DVD set, and now the product page is showing a price of $35.99 . I find this completely and extremely unfair, and would like the difference back, please. I know it is a small amount, but it is the principle of the matter. I have never had a poor customer service experience with Amazon.com, and I would hate for it to start now. "

How To Get HDTV over Comcast into the Mac.

September 03, 2006

Objective: To get HDTV on my Mac.
Hurdles: Over The Air reception in Ann Arbor is bad, so cable is needed. Not to disrupt my roommate's cable (internet and television).
Ingredients: EyeTV Box, Coaxial Cable, Two-Way Cable Splitter, Comcast Digital Television subscription with $5.00/month HDTV add-on.

So, this is where I was having problems. When I came back to University this year, I tried putting back the set up I had last year which enabled me to get HDTV over Comcast. Much to my dismay, I was not getting all the channels. (One important note: the cable has to come from the wall, and not the cable box). I soon discovered that I was getting a signal that was coming from a four way splitter that was coming from a two way splitter.

Some background first, a cable splitter works by diverting the signal into two directions, and thereby each signal loses strength. In a two-way splitter, typically -3db. In a four splitter, -7db. I was losing 10db of signal, enough to not let me watch my HDTV.

As soon as I fixed the problem (The cable comes from the wall, goes through a two-way splitter. One of the lines comes directly to me, the other goes to the rest of the house for internet, television, and everyone else who may want TV in their room) I was able to Auto-Tune the EyeTV software, and get my channels. The one thing I had to do next was figure out which channel was which, assign them, and then update the schedule.

Now everything works perfectly!

One More Thing After talking about this, I found out that the EyeTV 500 doesn't exist anymore, but the TVMini HD works well.

Heat Up my pillow via computer

June 10, 2006

Last night i walked into my cabin, and it was freezing. On top of that, my pillow was freezing too. So, I thought of a nifty little trick:

Open up my MacBook Pro, lay it on the pillow, and start it playing some HD content. Soon enough, the pillow is nice and toasty.

The Anti-Spoiler Plugin

May 23, 2006

So, in fear of reading information about television shows on the web, I am in hopes of having a Anti-Spoiler Plug-in (something that I talked about before). You could select shows and the choose to censor information from an array of options. For instance, you could have it so it blocks ALL information about episodes you haven't seen yet and future episodes.

How would it do this? It could look for words like "season," "finale," along with the name of the show, or maybe the name of the episode, and then some intelligent programing to display a dialog like: "The following page has information about the show Lost that you have optioned not to view."

Also, the Spoiler plug-in could be extended to include other things, such as protecting against spoielers of Apple announcements.

First Day of "Workshop for good"

May 20, 2006

Today was the first of two days of Workshop For Good, which is a "cheap" Ruby on Rails workshop with a few big names in the Rails community that is basically a multi-thousand dollar fund raiser for a school in DC (not a real public school, but a charter school, so I guess it is all in the same system, so I can live with that). After a bewildering morning getting there, frustration of trying to navigate through my city, I finally made it there an embarrassing twenty minutes late.

I got there, and it felt really nice to be iin a small setting learning about this stuff. I had read through a book about it, done the test things, even made a mostly-workable web app, but I didn't really have any foundation, context, or principles to go by with it. I didn't really know Ruby, however I was using to create web apps. I wanted to learn about new things that I would have to sort through many different articles to find a concrete answer.

It was informal with teacher Jeff starting off with a great opening monologue, explaining why we were here, what he does, how he got into Rails, and junk like that. Then Amy Hoy got up and talked about Rails somemore. Then Ezra talked and typed at the same time about Ruby and Rails. And then, around 2, maybe, we finally started doing some coding. And that was great, I was not looking for the same blog tutorial I have done a few times. I wanted to get a more rounded idea of what Rails was. And the first day definitally did that for me.

I got a free copy of Agile Web Development with Rails : A Pragmatic Guide (The Facets of Ruby Series) (my second, but this copy has never been to the bathroom, yet) which is awesome. Maybe I will win something tomorrow, like a t-shirt!

My New Fat Baby is Here

May 09, 2006

Well, not fat really, but large. I mean, it has a 17" inch screen. I love it though, for it is my baby.

I am in HD heaven, personally. I have had this EyeTV 500 for the past year, and not been able to record or watch video without dropping frames and stuttering. Tonight, watching Veronica Mars finale, was an amazing revelation.

Dashboard is now really convenient in loading instantly and getting rid of it instantly. I opened Photoshop and it ran as slow as it ever has, but I was not expecting anything great to occur, I figured it would just be like it was.... slow. Safari is the fastest improvement, I feel, by far from upgrading from the PowerBook.

Watch the 1 MB Quicktime of me unpacking it.

MBPRO 17/2.16 CTO

May 06, 2006

My MacBook Pro is coming soon! It shipped today! I am happy! I thought it would be coming in 11 days, but instead it is arriving on Wednesday! Which is not 11 days!

Processor 0656275 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo Memory 0656271 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM 2x1GB Hard Drive 0656268 100GB Serial ATA Drive@7200rpm Optical Drive 0656266 SuperDrive 8x Modem 0656201 None Apple Software Solutions 0656200 None Keyboard/Mac OS Language 0656273 BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS Country Kit/AEX 0656272 Airport Extreme Card andBT

A Day Without Internet

May 05, 2006

Today the internet was down, and one could not explain it, why was it wrong. Damn Earthlink... wait, Dad, you changed the password and didn't tell anyone... ah geez man

internet restored.

Computer Dreams

April 24, 2006

So, for the second time this week, I have had a dream about computers. This one was about bronze-exteriorized MacBooks. I think the first one was about a 17" MacBook Pro, which does not exist yet as of this writing which just came out.

When Apple comes out with new Hardware, it is a very good feeling. Sort of like rebirth, and a new cycle. What does it mean that I am having Computer Dreams? I am a huge geek.

Workshop For Good, I Hope

April 21, 2006

So, I was browsing the Ruby on Rails weblog, my number one web framework weblog for the web framework I am currently adored with and planning on using on at least two projects, and I saw a link to Workshop for Good. I saw it was in DC! Then I saw it was in DC for the short time I would be home in May before I go to Camp! Then I saw there is a student discount that I could pay for with the money from my job!

I was hooked, and signed-up. I received an e-mail with instructions for paying, and I replied back asking for details on getting the student discount (there is always a student discount, take advantage while you're young).

Hey Danny,

If you could send me a scan/picture of a current student ID or report card/enrollment sheet from this semester or last semester that would be great.

Thanks,
Jeff

So, I still had the scanned ID from when I was applying for the WWDC 2005 student scholarship, I sent that along, and now I am playing the waiting game... It is a fun game of intrigue and suspense, for the most part, I guess. You know, it is a nice thing to see that it supports the César Chávez Public Charter Schools, but too bad Wilson don't get no love.

The Second Apple Campus

April 20, 2006

Yesterday, at the Cupertino City Council meeting, Steve Jobs (impressive man)revealed his plans to build a second campus in the Californian city of Cuptertino. This is big news, and good news. It means Apple is comfortable enough to expand, rather than rent.

Maybe one day I will end up in the big Apple HQ web coding or something like that.

I think it was pretty funny that he was went there just to share the information. There was something he wanted to emphasize by going to the Cuptertino City Council first rather than releasing a Press Release. There was a desire to show his company's desire to stay close to themselves and Cupertino, and hopefully get a little help in the approval of whatever needed to be built.

Advertising Impact

April 17, 2006

I was originally going to write this post about how Zeldman is bashing Kottke in his Most recent post about kottke joing the Deck, until I finished the post and it was really about advertising on the web. It seems like they have hit a smart place with the Deck. They limit the number of advertisers to companies that they really trust, and that can only strength the ad saying "these are the products that we use, so they are good enough for you lowly people."
It is a one ad per page kind of thing, nothing fancy, with a simple PHP rotating script. Really kind of simple stuff. The images tend to stick out a lot on sites. The only foreign component becomes more obvious, even if , as on the A List Apart site, the ad is far away from the actual content.

Facebook Mobile, or The Demise of Society

April 13, 2006

So, the Facebook, the college student's prefered social networking site ( Cooler than Friendster, not as business oriented as Linkedin, and not as VD-ridden as MySpace), just did some Facebook Mobile stuff, and allowed students to set their "status."

Now, first of all, the Status thing. they let you update it from your cell phone or from the facebook website itself. But, there is no way to do it from your desktop, and that is annoying and a reason I won't use it for true reasons. Maybe if they integrated it with your class schedule, so it could switch status automatically, or just get it from your AIM away message, but right now it seems like too much trouble to be worth it.

Secondly, the whole Facebook Mobile works entirely through TXT messages. (I don't even know how the facebook website would look on a cell phone web browser, but probably not that great beacuse it still uses tables and not entirely CSS, but I don't know and can't make a comment on that) Now, cell phone carriers love this because they make money off those TXT messages. Facebook loves it because it is more traffic (although sans ads, but they can still use that to show how much traffic they get and say that people shold pay more for ads). Students love this because it is now another distraction in class.

The distraction in class is going to be HUGE HUGE HUGE. Now kids don't even need to bring their laptops to waste time. Just spend time sending around TXT messages instead of paying attention. Just bad news all around.... The facebook is a Website, it is not a stock quote or a sports score. Those are little bits of information that cannot be sent around on mobile pieces the same way.

[why is one of the facebook CSS stylesheets named facebookpro.css? I think there is some foulplay afoot]

I hate the Cell phone

April 13, 2006

I would just like to know why I cannot get all my voice mail, call histories, and text messages on a nice simple web site? Why must I go through that stupid annoying phone interface on that flimsy device. Every other electronic device I use feels solid (except for the remote, but I wouldn't except it to). But the cell phone just feels horrible.

I just want to be able to access my voicemail online, please, just save them out as low quality MP3s. is that so hard? Make text messages appear in the same place... Verizon, you could have it so people use your site as their homepage!

Mac Mini Downstairs

April 04, 2006

Finally, thanks to Sammy bringing me my remote from home this past weekend, I was able to hook up my Mac Mini to the TV downstairs and now we enjoy state of the art home-networked entertainment of music, photos, and the such.

Also, considering the EyeTV is no longer plugged into the Mac Mini, i put it into the PowerBook, and to my surpirse I suddenly found myself with some HD channels on QAM digital cable! that is what i am talking about. Two nice tech things in one day, plus some 10.4.6 update... nice.

Danny on Ruby on Rails

March 01, 2006

So, I am in love with Ruby on Rails. It is a web programming language that, in effect, allows you to create a working blog (sans authenticaion) in fifteen minutes.

It is so amazing, I bought a book from Amazon about it so I could learn more. However, i am waiting for the Ruby Recipes book because the best way to learn something new , at least my method, is looking at a complete listing of code options, such as the w3c provides for HTML and CSS, and looking at examples.

That is how I learned to code web, and currently learning more about javascript, is by looking at the source code of web pages and referncing pages. So, that is how I will learn Ruby on Rails to add to my repertoire of web development.

Thankful I have no yet ordered a MacBook Pro

February 18, 2006

So, unless you are, like, a complete loser, you know that Apple has made some amazoing new laptops called MacBook Pros. I want one, need one, demand one, however am not going crazy over one. The main reason is that they were announced about a monfth ago, and since then no one has been able to get their hands on one. I would rather wait until a second or third revision and they are in stock everywhere. I just hate ordering something and waiting for it.

So, I am waiting to get on the bandwagon....

My LOST Podcast

January 14, 2006

So, I have started a Lost Podcast named Turniphead. We have done three episodes so far and have a growing audience. Listen to it.

MWSF 2006 Predicitions

January 09, 2006

Alright, so , here I go with my Prediction Matrix.

Product	Odds
Update to iLife	100%	Yes
Update to iWork	100%	Yes
FOX Television Shows on iTunes	75%	No
Update to iPod Shuffle	75%	No
Intel Mac	35%	Yes - Two!
Wireless Mighty Mouse	40%	No
Plasma Mac Super TV Thing	40%	No
Intel PowerMac	0%	No

The Keynotes of Jobs

January 08, 2006

So, on Tuesday, Steve Jobs, technology demigod, will stand up and declare what is amazing and cool and necessary for me to own. I have been to two Stevenotes in the past. One at at the now-defunct MWNY 2001 and this past summer at WWDC 2005. The energy he emits is incredible and watching Jobs talk about Apple and the new products is electrifying. However, I don't know if all the time I have spent is worth it.

I know, blasphemy, waking up at 6 AM to see a guy the size of your fist walk across a stage and look at a screen to really see stuff up close is worth it if it is Steve Jobs. But, really, I think that unless you are in the very front section, like the press section, it might not be worth it. I have watched more Stevenotes on my computer screen than in person, and I don't think I am missing much. In fact, in the privacy of my own room, I am able to screech and faint as much as I want without risking a geek faux pas [mistake, blunder, gaffe, indiscretion, impropriety, solecism, barbarism]. Also, at the trade shows, people in the back of the Stevenote room can watch the big projectors to get a better view from all the way back there, but really they can get out sooner and play will at the new fun stuff at the Apple Booth.

Therefore, I might have to say. I am no longer going to wake up early, if given the chance, to see Steve live in action. Watching a screen is fine enough for me if I am not going to get the chance to see him closer than having to look over people. It just isn't worth it, I feel....

I want to start doing everything in Dashboard

December 20, 2005

I want to start doing in everything in Apple's widget layer Dashboard. I have a mini iCal, mini iTunes, mini Bit Torrent client. I can get a mini Web browser and build a mini Text Editor. All I need is a mini IM client and i could live in Dashboard. Never need to go into the heavy part of Mac OS X.

I want to live in Dashboard. But, I can't.... as of now.

Nifty Dialog Box Today

December 19, 2005

It just struck me that my computer is so very smart. It will disable it until I decide to fix it or disable it forever!

I turned off comments

December 08, 2005

I have temporarily turned off comments. I got tired of having to go through and delete all the spam ones, and it was just getting really really annoying.

I beat Wind Waker

November 15, 2005

Tonight, amidst the pouring rain, I battled Ganondorf and won The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Now I get to play through it again, but not wearing my green clothes, but my cool surfing outfit! The last time I played it before I bought it on Sunday was May 22nd, 2005, and I was in the last stage... didn't take me long. Now to do it again!

My First Widget

November 06, 2005

This afternoon, I found a very helpful piece of sample code on the Apple Developer site that has helped me to finish my Threadless.com widget Only for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher users.

UPDATE - It is now at the official Apple widget site.

My new Video iPod

October 19, 2005

today, after a midterm, after I cashed a check, and got a hot dog, I came home to see the FedEx man had left me a package of my new 60GB iPod. I opened it up, connected the cord to the back of my display, and launched things up. It probably took 30 minutes to copy all my music, videos, and photos to it...

..., but the most startling part of this new iPod is the new shape. My previous iPod had been a 3G, and this is a 5G. The 3G was the one with the four buttons in a row above the wheel, it also was all smooth around with no sharp edges. The 5G takes it bad old school to have the metallic part smooth but once we hit the front edge, it is an edge. Also, the screen is color, bigger, and very sharp. It looks so funny because the screen is larger and it sort of looks overwhelming large.

Watching videos on it is surprisingly sharp and just fun to do.... I mean, they really did it right. The screen is so damn sharp and big, but it is smaller than the previous generations.... Apple did it right.

As I was setting up my new iPod, I kept in the back of my mind that there was an Apple Event in New York today about "pro releases," which was at 1.

Well, turns out it was at 12, so I checked my mac news sites mid Apple event and saw all these new posts about new products, and I just started to go nuts, as I had previously with the iPod nano event, and last week's iTunes 6+video iPod announcements.

Today, Apple came out with faster PowerBooks, Quad processor Power Mac G5 (Two dual-core chips), and a new photo program called Aperture. Aperture, simply put, is what Final Cut Pro is to iMovie. It is a Pro version of what iPhoto does. Going through some of the quick tour videos just shows you how truly impressive it is and how much attention Apple paid to the small things that help create a better grand product. sweeet.

The Lost Season 1 DVD Commentaries

October 18, 2005

So, today, I was watching the LOST Season 1 DVD Disc 1 commentaries. And it was standard fare, until one of the creators said "Can we stop film?" And they stopped the episode, and went to another clip on the DVD. I exclaimed out loud of how cool it was they they expanded on the whole idea of DVD commentaries. It always seems like the people always have more to say than the time they are allowed. Hopefully more DVD productions will do this, and give more! People like the commentaries more than one thinks.

Something Big is Happening...

October 17, 2005

So, if we take a look at the iTunes Music Store's top video downloads, we see that there is one music video, one Pixar short, and three episodes of LOST . What?

Now, let's consider the numbers. There are about 2,000 music videos, 6 Pixar Shorts, and 29 episodes of LOST available for purchase. So, how come 3/5ths of the top five downloads are a TV Show, when they only make up about 1.4% of the total content available.

Content	Apprx Items	Should Be	Are
Music Videos	2,000	98.28%	20%
Pixar Shorts	6	.2%	20%
LOST	29	1.4%	60%

Based on the TOP FIVE VIDEO DOWNLOADS as of 10/17/05

If we look further, to the top 10 video downloads, there are only 2 music videos, 3 pixar shorts, and 5 episodes of LOST. It is only when we get up into the 25 area that we see consistent music video downloads.

What is going on here? I'll tell you what is going on. It is the double effect of an excellent television show and the pent up demand and rage for more options of getting your favorite shows. Taping? So last year, but not everyone has a TiVo. So, this is the most convenient method ever! You can click and purchase an episode and it is download in 20 minutes. Poor Quality? Not really, and people sitting 10 feet back from their TV with their video iPod plugged into it won't care.

This is something big. People want to be able to get video on demand on their favorite shows, and this is the easiest method so far. They don't have to set up anything; no need to look at schedules on a TV interface. Just go to iTunes, find the episode you want afterwards, without commercials, without the annoying weather warnings of a tornado watch, and just click. The BitTorrent channels are always a hit or miss, but iTunes is a bulls-eye every-time,

Hopefully, more networks will be putting their shows onto this. Maybe throw a show on like Arrested Development and see that there is a reason to keep it around, eh? Maybe throw on shows like Daily Show or the Nightly News for a bit cheaper because they are run every-night. Maybe throw on a season subscription service to get shows while they are being put up.

This is big. This is big. This is big. And it isn't going away.

A Weird Shot from King Kong

October 15, 2005

So, in the most recent trailer for King Kong, there is a shot of a close up of Naomi Watts, but then pans to the left and reveals a group shot. It is a really weird looking shot, for some reason. Download it, and take a look, and tell me what you think. I cannot describe why it is so weird, though...

Download file

Anti-Spoiler Plug-in

September 24, 2005

I would like there to be some kind of anti-spoiler plug in for browsing the web, because I like reading about theories abot LOST, but i don't like reading spoilers for it... although I believe there are many false-spoilers out there made by either fans or the shows creators to throw people off their track.

I mean, why?

September 16, 2005

I mean, nintendo, why make your new controller look like a remote control for a TV? Everyone is going to be so damn skeptical of this thing. Revolution sure, but not if everyone is too scared to plunge their money into something unknown. The idea of the system is great, but I mean, seriously, the controller is off putting.

iPod nano, are you kidding me!?

September 07, 2005

this is like... bra

Thinner than a #2 pencil, Holds up to 1,000 songs and full-color album art. Only 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces. Bright 1.5-inch color LCD display. Up to 14 hours of battery life(1). Apple Click Wheel. Charges and syncs via USB. Accessory-compatible Dock connector. Completely skip-free playback. Works with Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP. Plays music, podcasts and audiobooks. Holds up to 25,000 photos. Syncs contacts, calendars and to-do lists

The Precious 15" Is safe

August 25, 2005

Ah, my precious 15" PowerBook is back from getting serviced, hard. They gave me a new battery, and it seems they replaced the BAT CONN/WIRE HARNESS ASSY,PB15" which I believed was the problem in the first place. The problem was that the battery did not want to connect to the computer anymore, so I could not use it mobile. This also would be the source of the turning off while being shuffled around in my backpack problem that has plagued me the past year I have owned it. But all is well now, thank you AppleCare!

ah, the new battery gives me a life of 3 hours, that is quite impressive, 3 hours! And it just feels newer.

I love Cinema Display HD

August 18, 2005

I love my Cinema Display HD.. Essentially, it is amazoing. Basically, it is this screen that is totally fucking huge beyond anyone's comprehension. It is so... big... and bright... and beautiful, and I would kiss it all over if that wouldn't ruin the screen. I blew my paycheck from the summer on it, but boy, was it worth it. Watching HD streams on this is incredible, and watching DVDs on this is incredible. And the resolution is just sooo much. Even running off a Mac mini, just stunning.

WWDC 2005 tis O'er

June 11, 2005

Ahhh, the magnificent week of WWDC 2005 is over. I cannot say specifics about the conference, but it was very worthwhile for me even though I am not a developer. I got to go to sessions about Core Data and learn how easy it is to write a database program without any lines of code.

This past week involved waking up an hour before my 7 34 alarm, walking to the Moscone Center (unless I was around when the cars were leaving from where I was staying with my very excellent hosts, my Aunt and Uncle), spending a day watching people talk about Apple stuff, talking to people about Apple stuff, eating, and eating, and eating, and taking a cab back very late at night. It was, to say the least, tiring. You never think just sitting down for that long will tire you out, but it does. But now, it is over, until WWDC 2006

I am looking forward to, hopefully, getting to go again next year and see Leopard introduced and some new Intel based Macs. And, you know, everyone is making a big deal about Mactels, but it is no different that saying "Apple will have faster more efficent computers in a year," that is an assumptions. For everyone but developers, it means nothing; for developers it means a few hours of work, or in reality 5 minutes.

And now, I am going back to Camp for the rest of the summer. An odd mix of computer conference to outdoors camp, but I am excited, as I should be. I am a lucky person that I get to experience all these things. Onward Danny!

Meeting a Geek Star

June 06, 2005

Today I got to meet a geek star: Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster fame. We talked for a bit about his company, and the t-shirts. He said they would be going online for sale in the future... which is like the sweetest! He gave a talk at the Student Sunday on the benefits of being a small independent mac developer versus a Windows lifestyle.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

May 17, 2005

Holy fucking shit.: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.. I fucking love Nintendo. Thank you ! Dude turns into an animal, duels on horseback, kicks ass all around

Not only was the new Zelda game shown off, but they presented the new Revolution

And also, a new GameBoy Micro

37signal's Web Based Applications

May 10, 2005

37signals now has a trifecta of great apps: Basecamp, Backpack, and Ta-da List. Each of these are examples of web based applications. These programs are only limited by the speed of the browser because the actual processing is done on the server. When the programmers have finalized an update, they just install it for everyone to enjoy. They are accessible from everywhere... well, as long as you have access to the internet.

The primary downside is, of course, access to the internet. You need to have it to get the work done, and if it involves any heavy lifting of images, upload speeds are gonna be killer. (An online Photoshop replacement might be great if you have a really fast connection)

That being said, there is a place for these web based apps, and the 37signals people have found the niche (wow, what bad writing I am doing). Great collaborative ways to share information and figure out a project. You can upload reminders, and make lists. Try them out, they are fun to use for anything!

New Design

May 04, 2005

I was bored with the old design, this is a new design, please tell me what you think.

This is Way Cool

April 25, 2005

FINAL CUT STUDIO!

April 17, 2005

OH YeAHS!!!!!!!!

You know the benefits of keeping all your production under one roof. Why not keep all your production tools in one box? Final Cut Studio combines the industry-standard Final Cut Pro 5 — including powerful SD, DV and HD editing capability — with the real-time design engine of Motion 2 for stunning motion graphics, the flexible audio creation and control tools of Soundtrack Pro and the sophisticated SD and HD DVD authoring features of DVD Studio Pro 4.

My Lucky Stars

April 12, 2005

Peter Jackson uses iPhoto

April 10, 2005

Peter Jackson uses iPhoto, and a 15" PowerBook, to review the stills on his current production of King Kong. He is not using, however, the newest version of iPhoto 5.

He needs to upgrade.

I totally gave in...

April 10, 2005

I gave in, and purchased the Elgato EyeTv 500, which records HDTV streams to my Mac. It is being shipped to me, and I also need to get a 20 dollar HDTV antenna, but aftewards, "hey!"

I will have my own TiVo kind of thing, and I won't have to pay a subscription fee!

It came back to me, it came back!

April 02, 2005

It happened. My SuperDrive is back. I thought that it was gone, and it was. For about a week, the Forrest Gump DVD was stuck in there.

I was doing a backup, and now, now it has come back to me. It works again, I have my DVD burner back, some how... i guess it was a software problem, not a hardware problem.

I was doing a backup, and then the GUI froze, and I restarted it, and the drive was responsive again!

HOORAY!

Reasons Why I Want Tiger

April 02, 2005

So, many of you know, Tiger is going to be here soon. There are some reasons why I want it right now. Not just because it is something new and fancy and from Apple (although that is always reason enough for me), but there is so much much more...

Spotlight

Spotlight is a search technology that allows for searching of meta data and content. It is so freakin' powerful. It can go into documents, including PDFs, and comb through the content. It can go and look at the meta data of files and use that too. This allows for smart folders in almost any application that wants them (like e-mail or file browsers). Most of all, there is no more need for folders. We are moving towards a more flat filesystem.

Dashboard

All those reasons for going to websites to check weather, package information (where is my DVD from Amazon.com?), and other stuff, no more! hit one button, and all these little widgets, made of pure XHTML+CSS (which I just love), and some javascript come on screen, and it uses the new Core Image in Mac OS X to do some cool stuff

Core Image

Core Image, i don't really know how to describe, but if you look at examples of what it allows, it is incredible. It can make windows flip, or ripple on screen, or give any developer the power to make a low-end photoshop replacement in seconds.

h.264

H.264 is an amazoing codec, part of MPEG-4 family, that is just going to blow people's minds away. Just wait till it is put into use with iChat AV, and there are going to be incredible results

I just can't wait any longer! I am going to go INSANE!!!!!!!!

I think I fruckd my computer , oops

March 26, 2005

I think I have messed up my computer (The 15" PowerBook). First it was it would turn off if it was moved around too much (loose wire?) , and now the DVD drive is not responding. Now, usually, I would blame the stupid computer, but now I am blaming the stupid me.

See, for some reason, I like smacking my computer when good music is playing. I like smacking it with my thumb, and maybe I like to hit it too much. It is a machine, I know, and I should not treat it like a drum pad.

But now, the DVD drive is unresponsive, and there is a disc in there that is not mine, and I am very upset about the whole thing. Next time, I suggest not beating on a computer... it cannot be good for it.

I am sorry, Computer, please forgive me.

I want some wiki action

March 20, 2005

I want some wiki improvements to this blog. So that when I type something in the format *Apple* it would provide a link to a page about Apple. Beyond just having a log of my daily livings, I could provide some kind of explanation for things commonly made referenced to. It would fit well with the growing feeling that my life some kind of sick twisted elaborate television show/ video game.

I think if I were to get Plug in, maybe I could make it work.

So, working is like good

March 17, 2005

So, people, I just want to tell you that everything is going well with my job. This week I was doing some of the iTunes/Pepsi promoting. It went well, we gave out free iTunes songs, free Sierra Mist, and people could sign up to win a free iPod (or maybe a Mountain Dew beach ball!). This weekend, I am working at the Dance Marathon. Everyone hates their jobs, but this is fun. I get to do what I love doing: getting people to understand the greatness of Apple stuff. Below, is the business card.

This is still very much mega-exciting.

MOLY MOLY WHGOAW!!!Two Things: Star Wars Trailer and New Zelda Trailer

March 10, 2005

The Legend of Zelda (Tentative Title)

This just looks incredible, please go and take a look!Here is the link to the lo quality version

The Star Wars Trailer

The trailer was amazoing (if you haven't seen it, try this). When i was watching it, I had my mouth wide open the whole time...and aftewards, i was just like "oh my god, oh my god... oh my holy fucking god!" The images were amazoing, it just seems like this one is just going to be better. Episode II was better than Episode I, I think it is a good trend. The part where he is like "you are arrested," the dude is like, uhm, hell no! I want to be one of the people who stands out on line the night it opens... Uptown here I COME!

Today I used my cell phone as a fax machine

March 10, 2005

Today I used my cell phone as a fax machine. It was pretty really very easy in Mac OS X:

• I plugged in the cell phone to the computer with this cord
• I went to Print..., and chose Fax...
• I filled in the information, such as phone number and subject
• Hit enter, and it controls the phone, as a 14.4 modem, and send it off!

Very very cool stuff to know if I am ever in a jam and need to send a fax.

The End of the Pre-Beginning

March 09, 2005

So, today, I became, officially, an Apple Computer College Campus Representative. It is very exciting, and I get a bunch of free shingdings, but I also have to work, but this is working with stuff I really love!

Remember all the times people asked me "hey, do you work for Apple?" because I would also mention Apple stuff? WELL NOW, people, It'S TRUE!

SO GET OFF MY BACK!

PS. Yipee!

You are a Winnah!

February 28, 2005

Subject: [macsig] How To's Win an iPod Shuffle - Winners

There were three submissions last week to the MacSIG at Michigan web site.

The lucky winner (drawn at random using a special php randomizer script) of this week's $10 iTunes gift certificate is : Daniel Cohen Daniel's submission entitled "Turn a DVD into an Audiobook" can be viewed at (http://macosx.si.umich.edu/public/viewHowTo.php?HowToID=64 )

Yipee!