Keeping it current...
Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 10:37PM One of the reasons I don't (can't?) create my ScreenCastsOnline shows well in advance, is the rate of change in the Mac space.
Case in point this week...
I usually publish my show on a Friday, so that usually entails starting the production cycle on the Wednesday. If all goes to plan, I'm usually ready to publish the show by Friday lunchtime following a couple of long days production. If all doesn't go to plan, then I'm under a bit of pressure to try and get it out on the Friday. This usually means three days solid effort, culminating in the release of the show.
This week, I started on the Tuesday and even though it's a fairly complex show, I managed to get the show edited by close of play Wednesday and all the post production tasks finished today, ready to push the button to release tomorrow.
It's a really strange feeling having a show "in the can" as the process is normally completed in one long action.
This week's show is a Mac Montage in three parts:
- Using the OSX Proxy Icon
- Creating workflow to extract Email attachments into DropBox
- Using the DropBox iPad app and iWork
The second part is quite a complex workflow involving Google mail, Automator, AppleScript and Mail Rules.
The third part includes some live video of my iPad where I demonstrate using the Dropbox app to import files into Pages on the iPad and then send via email to Dropbox from the iPad.
So what happens today...
Apple announce a new Mobile Me beta mail service with server side rules
Apple announce new updated versions of the iWork suite on the iPad
D'oh!
In fairness, the new announcements don't really impact on the show as all the components and processes remain unchanged, although it would have been nice to have shown the server side mail rules. There's also one point where I had to rotate the iPad to get access to the toolbar in Pages and I would not have needed to do that after todays update.
Still, it goes to show just how quickly things move and how it makes it so difficult to build up any sort of buffer of pre-recorded shows.
For info - tomorrows show (14th May - SCO0249 - Mac Montage 14) will be published round about 10 am UK time. It is a members only show but more info on becoming a member here.
Reader Comments (6)
Does indeed go to show that the pace of change in technology is continuously evolving, and as you get towards WWDC conference, more and more announcements or releases seem to happen. Case in point - the Vietnam 4G iPhone
Also hardware gets less available. Have had a 30 in cinema display on order, and the UCSF tech store have had it on backorder for several weeks - will there be a hardware update to the line in time for WWDC??
The iPad is an ever changing field.I now make daily stops at the App Store on the iPad to see which apps have been updated
iWork is definitely due a makeover. Maybe they have been reading DonMC tweets about the file system?? ;)
Technology is a demanding mistress.
Not to worry, Don. If you had done a show on mobile me beta, they would have changed so
ething immediately after you published!
Just a tip for those that don't need to edit MS Office docs on their iPads - GoodReader for iPad is a GREAT app. I use it for reading PDF books, magazines, and it will even view MS Office files with proper formatting, including spreadsheets with multiple tabs. Even better, its only $0.99, a ridiculously low price. Its the first and best purchase on my iPad so far.
They have an iPhone version for the same price, but for some reason it has less features.
It supports access to web servers, file servers, wireless file transfer, iTunes sync, and even DropBox. I'm trying to see if I can get SugarSync (my file server of choice) to work with it.
MKS
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http://www.StartRealWork.com - Consulting for Fun and Profit!
The iWork update really helped in the Keynote iPad app. I had imported a PowerPoint file from one of my clients but it came over a bit scrambled. I checked it right after I downloaded the update and now that same presentation looks beautiful.
Hi Don,
Enjoyed this show. I particularly liked the "convoluted" path for getting files to and from ipads. I don't plan to have one anytime soon but it was an excellent example or how to use the features built into OS X to do some pretty clever stuff. I now have some good ideas of how to use Automater to help some of my workflow.
Cheers,
Brian