Logic Pro 8 Released As Part Of The New Logic Studio
September 16, 2007
0 Comments
Apple’s Logic Studio was released this past Wednesday. I had a copy in my hands by noon.
It’s a major upgrade. Logic Studio is a full suite of apps including Logic Pro 8, MainStage, Soundtrack Pro 2, Studio instruments and effects, and the entire GarageBand Jam Pack library. Almost 40 gigs of content!
The user interface of Logic Pro has been completely redesigned. Its new single-window workspace fits the streamlined design of Apple’s other applications. If you’re a GarageBand user, the upgrade will be much easier to manipulate.
MainStage is built for live performance. Keyboardists and guitarists alike will be able to perform with confidence even in the most demanding conditions. It’s a major step to bringing your software instruments and effects to the stage with an interface that gives you just enough information to get the job done.
My major complaint with Logic Pro 7 was the user interface. It wasn’t nearly as fun or easy to use as GarageBand. All of that has changed. I love the new and sexier Apple-centric design.
Watch my introduction to the new Logic Pro 8 template chooser.
If you’re a Logic user and want more tips and tricks, check out Logic Studio Training.
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(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
Loading ...Having Trouble Ripping a DVD on a Mac?
August 20, 2007
0 Comments
I watched 300 yesterday. I can’t remember if it was good or not because I spent the whole time staring at their abs. Guys are so obsessed with other guys bodies and don’t even know it (and will never admit it). Seriously though, ahem, even though I don’t want to admit that I’m obsessed, I will admit that I want those abs. Maybe I’ll give the 300 workout a try after I’ve finished my current program.
The blood and gore was vivid and the fighting was intense. I would need to watch this again and again. So I tried to rip it but couldn’t. Then I figured out how.
First, you have to open Disk Utility, select the DVD in the sidebar and choose New Image from the toolbar. For Image Format, choose DVD/CD Master and no encryption. Once it’s saved to your hard drive, convert it to the desired format with Handbrake. I don’t know how to burn it back to a DVD since I always convert for iPod TV or iPhone. But I know there’s a way.
Now I need to try this out on Casino Royale. There’s another movie that spends a disproportionate amount of time focusing on the body of Daniel Craig than of Eva Green.
I watch television because you don’t know what it will do if you leave it in the room alone.
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I’m a Facebook fanatic. I joined immediately after they opened to the public. In the beginning, there wasn’t much to talk about. None of my friends had joined and there really wasn’t that much I could do there. But since then, the buzz has caught my friends’ attention and Facebook’s extendibility has grown consistently, giving me a lot to play with.
Since I’ve been catching myself updating both Facebook and Twitter separately, I figured I should revisit my workflow and see if I can tweak my current level of automation.
It wasn’t difficult. I just added a couple lines of code to iQuickTwitter and now I can update Twitter, Facebook, iChat, and Skype with a single command. If you dig it, be my friend and let me know.
Graham English @ Facebook
Graham English @ Twitter
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.
If all you want is to update Facebook with Quicksilver, try this:
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.
If you try to please everyone, somebody is not going to like it.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...
There are lots of tools out there to expand your Google AdWords keywords by adding brackets (exact match) and quotes (phrase match) to your keyword list. Some of them are free, some are not, and even fewer options are available for Mac. But if you use TextMate a lot, like me, then you’ll enjoy this little keyword matching options command.
Open TextMate and show the bundle editor (⌃⌥⌘B). Create a new command by clicking the plus sign on the bottom left of the bundle editor. Name the command “Add Quotes” or something to your liking. In the right-hand pane, leave the ‘Save’ drop-down menu to ‘Nothing’, Copy sed 's/^/${1:"}/' | sed 's/$/${2:"}/' into the Command area, leave ‘Input’ to ‘Selected Text or Document’ and change the ‘Output’ to ‘Insert as Snippet.’ If you like, you can create a key command like ⌃⌥⌘”.
Next, create an “Add Brackets” command exactly the same way except copy this code into the Command area: sed 's/^/${1:[}/' | sed 's/$/${2:]}/’
Now, whenever you are want to add quotes or brackets to your keyword list, copy your keywords into a TextMate document and select them, activate your key command, and voilà, your keyword list has been transformed.
One more thing. If you have a list of keywords that you want to transform into a negative keyword list, do everything above except copy this code into the Command area: sed 's/^/${1:-}/'
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...iPhone LiveBlogging
June 29, 2007
5 Comments
3:28 - Some people will think we’re all crazy. Some will totally get it. But I’m in line and I can’t wait!
There’s around 40-60 people in front of me. I think that’s a good sign.
Not sure exactly when I got here. Probably a little before 3PM. I got in line while Katie went to the food court to get us some food (Salad for me). Everyone’s pretty cool. Newspapers are interviewing people left and right. Exciting.
3:46 - Now Katie and I are watching a BBC documentary on my iPod as we wait. Lots more people joining the line and it’s getting louder. Wait until the after work crowd shows up.
4:00 - Stepped out of line for a bathroom break and nobody freaked out when I got back in line. That’s cool.
On the way back I passed a quaint little T-mobile booth. Doubt anyone’s going to line up for them anytime soon. Although their new Wifi plan is pretty sweet.
By the way, anyone want to buy a BlackBerry 7100i on the Sprint/Nextel network?
4:33 - iPhone Mania
5:13 - I’m definitely in the front half of the line. Lots of new MacBook Pros in attendance. I’m wicked jealous.
5:30 - They just tore the paper down. There’s a big iPhone in the window counting down the minutes and seconds. Friggin’ awesome!
An Apple employee came out and gave us the details. They’re letting groups of people come in to keep the experience under control and answer questions and demo the iPhone.
7:37 - Just got in the door after purchasing my iPhone. Something strange has happened to my BlackBerry. I’ll write more about that later. Right now, I just want to activate it.
7:51 - iPhone is activated. So much nicer than talking to a sales person. Very smooth.
8:00 - Initial sync completed. Very cool. Amazing resolution.
8:53 - Don’t want to blog about it anymore. Just want to play with it. But iPhone does RSS!
A few things. Couldn’t login to my wireless network for some reason. It wouldn’t accept the password so I disabled my password (temporarily) and it connected fine. The keyboard is going to take some getting used to. My thumbs are big. Safari is simply amazing! Also, I couldn’t manually drag music to iPhone in iTunes. Hopefully it’s just a setting that I’m overlooking.
I might be back later with more good news after I’ve had a chance to play more.
10:16 - I’ve made a few calls and played with just about everything now. Absolutely gorgeous!
About my BlackBerry… When I got into the store and was waiting in line, an Apple employee started showing me an iPhone demo. At the same time he was doing that, I was preparing a Twitter on GTalk. So he goes to make a phone call and all of his contacts are missing. “Hmmm,” he says. No big deal, I thought. Because at that point, I was about to go to the front of the line. After I’m finished purchasing, I look down at my BB to Twitter the good news and something’s strange. All of my emails are missing. “No Messages” reads the display and GTalk has been disconnected. I tinker for 30 seconds or so and then restart it a couple of times but something’s gone very quirky. Do I really care? No. I have a new iPhone. But I can’t help but wondering if when the iPhone and the BlackBerry get together, they try to establish dominance and go all alpha on each other.
I’ll dig into it more tomorrow. For now, my iPhone is commanding my attention. It’s really a phenomenal gadget.
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...