New Mac Roundtable Episode....

Now I won't do this everytime a new episode is released but just a reminder that the latest episode of the Mac Roundtable has just been released. I make another appearance but I'm not sure if I'll be up to appearing on future mid week episodes but should still be able to make the weekend editions. Unfortunately, due to time zones, the mid week episodes are recorded at 2am UK time! But never say never! Once we were off and running, the time difference didn't really make that much difference and a good time was had by all. Hope you enjoy it! PS Make sure you subscribe to the iTunes feed to get all future episodes

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So will the iPhone SDK be late?.....

Probably! Still no official word from Apple at the time of writing this post, but it seems pretty late in the month to arrange a launch and the rumour mills are in full tilt. My own theory..... The iPhone SDK is ready and waiting to go! I find it highly unlikely that they would still be working on finalising the SDK at this late stage. What's more likely is that there are delays in either:

• Finishing or testing major 3rd Party (or Apple) iPhone apps due to be launched in conjunction with the SDK
• Getting the infrastructure in place to sell the iPhone apps via iTunes. This is most likely needed on launch date
• Finalising the new version of iTunes to include iPhone App support
• Updates to iLife or iWork Apps that may just be re-worked to include integration with the new iPhone SDK

As usual, Apple are trailblazing new technologies and you have to consider that waht we see as the final result is really just the tip of the iceberg of some pretty herculean feats of logistics and planning. Yes, I know the Apple TV was delayed and yes, even Leopard was delayed but you can guarantee that if the iPhone SDK is pushed back by a few weeks, it will be launched on the revised date. So let's cut Apple some slack and let them push out the SDK and the supporting infrastructure when it's ready. You know it will be worth waiting for!

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPhone SDK

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Ad Free Blog!

Decided to take all the ads off my blog. Just seemed the right thing to do. All looks nice and clean now :-)

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Yes, I've heard about it ;-) ......

It seems the blogosphere and the Mac community is awash with talk about this new fangelled screen capture utility called ScreenFlow from Vara Software. It does something called "ScreenCasting" and apparently is "the Bee's Knees" As you might have guessed, I've had a lot of emails and tweets about the new package and people asking me for my thoughts (in case you didn't know, I've been screencasting for nearly three years now, and I make my living from it, so I could be considered a professional screencaster). So what are my thoughts about the product..... Now if my self preservation instincts kicked in, I probably should dismiss the product and try and persuade people away from trying it. I've spent the best part of 3 years developing the complex workflows and assembling a host of professional (read expensive but extremely powerful) tools to both record and edit my weekly screencast and the last thing I need is a simple but powerful screencast tool to come on the scene and threaten my livelihood! But I can't! I've tried the package and I have to admit, it's pretty amazing! It's really in a class of it's own due to some pretty unique features I've never seen before, all of which I presume come from the new technologies present in Leopard. Not only is the package a pretty competent capture tool, it also allows you to edit the resultant video captures and apply all sorts of effects and enhancements. I can replicate all of the enhancements in Final Cut Pro (the current tool I'm using for video editing) but the problem is it's taken me an enormous amount of effort to develop my skills in FCP to the point where I'm proficient. Even with the skills, it's still difficult and time consuming to apply these effects manually. What ScreenFlow does is to make the inclusion of these effects a trivial task and something that anyone can master with just a few hours work. Now all is not completely rosy as using the application as a professional screencaster, I've come across several technical issues and usability issues that need some attention, but as a V1.0 product, it's pretty amazing. With respect to the technical trouble, I hit a snag on my triple monitor Mac Pro production machine and raised a support request. I couldn't export without the application crashing. I received an immediate response with a debug version to try. Ran it, sent off the debug info, was asked a few questions and then sent a new build of the app within a couple of hours. It worked! Later that afternoon, I received a note from the support team advising that they'd released a new build v1.0.1 available to everyone that fixed the problem I was having - all in an afternoon! Outstanding! I've actually used the product this week to create some of this weeks ScreenCastsOnline show (available tomorrow to Extra! members only (if you want more information on becoming a member - click here :-) ) or subscribe to the free HD feed in iTunes. You can see the trailer here but you can't really get an appreciation of the ScreenFlow contribution, you'll need to see the full show or wait for the free show next week! PLEASE NOTE!!!! I only used ScreenFlow to do the capture and some of the editing and zoom effects, so it's really a hybrid show. All the Titles and overlays were done in Motion and the final assembly edit was still done in Final Cut Pro. So don't expect to be able to do all this with ScreenFlow. There are still some issues I'd like ScreenFlow to address in the realm of timeline navigation and exporting but I've put together a nice list of enhancements I'd like to see in the product following my experiences this week. After making contact with the support team, they seem to be delighted with the feedback so hopefully they'll include some of them for the next release. In the meantime, I'll probably work out some alterations to my workflow to try and compensate for some of the niggling issues (mind you, they are probably non-issues if you're not doing this on a daily basis) and see how the next few weeks develop. I doubt I'll ever be in a position where I'll be able to use ScreenFlow as the only application for creating my show, but I can see it becoming a major part. Oh and my comments about it threatening my livelihood, although slightly tongue in cheek, it's only natural to have those kinds of thoughts. The thing is though, ScreenFlow is still just a tool, a pretty powerful one at that, but still just a tool. It's what you do with the tool that matters, so I hope that my blend of creativity, plain speaking and overall approach with ScreenCastsOnline and the topics that I cover will keep me in good stead and enable me to carry on making a living at ScreenCasting. I suppose some competition is a good thing - right?

Technorati Tags: ScreenCasts, ScreenCasting, Podcasting

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Content is king and why 2008 is the year of HD......

Further to my last post on the Apple TV, I thought I'd best explain the comment I made..

After only spending a hour in front of the Apple TV Take 2 it made me re-assess my own content and make a major strategic change in my approach, but perhaps I'll leave that for another post!

So this is that other post! I have to admit that I was pretty blown away by the potential sea change brought about by the Apple TV Take 2. Podcasts simply become additional "on demand" services that can be viewed simply by clicking on a few buttons and watching the content streamed effortlessly into your living room. What I quickly realised was that my current "free" versions of the ScreenCastsOnline tutorials, were not really optimised to take advantage of the benefits that this great new platform could offer. Some history first...... Basically, I've been using the availability of HD content of the tutorials I produce as a differentiator between the free service I offer and the paid membership service or ScreenCastsOnline Extra!. For those that don't know, I make my living as a full time podcaster and I'm reliant on providing a premium service to earn the money to pay the bills. Initially, I decided that HD content was a big plus for members and used that as a primary element with which to "entice" people across to the paid membership scheme. I've been producing HD content for 18 months and the bulk of the back catalogue (over 140+ tutorials) has always been available in HD format (1280x720). The split between the free and premium content was initially 3:1 i.e. 3 free shows in low resolution each month and 1 member only show, but the member only shows were all in HD. After various conversations and surveys, it became apparent that the HD format was not the primary reason that people signed up as members, the primary reason was to get the additional premium content. Yes, they enjoyed the HD format and it made the show so much easier and clearer to watch but it wasn't the deciding factor. So a few months ago, I change the ratio of free to premium to 1:1 i.e. alternate free and member only shows each week, but again, the free content was only in low resolution but members get everything in HD. So now the dilemma is that the low resolution free content looks awful on the Apple TV. If you have an Apple TV, you have a HDTV, period. Apple have restricted the use of the Apple TV to only work on HDTVs and have now released iTunes Movies in HD and are actively promoting HD podcasts, both on the iTunes store (via the Apple TV) and even by Steve Jobs himself in this years keynote. 2008 is the year of HD! The resolution to my dilemma is simple....from this week, I'm releasing all new free content in HD and re-branding the show as ScreenCastsOnline HD. I've also released the past few free shows and Trailers for 2008 in HD also. So now if your a current subscriber to my free feed, you'll receive HD content as standard every week. If you really want iPod or iPhone compatible versions, I've created a new free feed to get the iPod/iphone version. So will this major change impact the current ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members or stop new members signing up? I don't think (hope!) so:

• Extra! Members still get twice as many full shows than the free content
• Extra! Members still get access to all the previous shows in HD, the free HD content is only from 2008 onwards.
• Extra! Members also get access to:
  • special full resolution HD version (the free HD version has built in overscan bars to guarantee that they will display correctly on HDTVs with overscan)
  • a HD overscan version (from Jan 2008)
  • a 960x540 version of every show
  • plus an ipod/iphone version of every show

But just in case Extra! members do feel a little bit disadvantaged by the free content being in HD, I'm also introducing a special extended version of each free show especially for Extra! members. So in fact, there will be premium content every week either as full shows or extended versions of shows - Phew! Plus, I'm hoping that when everyone sees the show in HD, they may even be persuaded to join as a member as the HD versions as so much cleared and nicer to view, not just on the Apple TV but on any iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Apple Cinema Display. So from this weeks episode, the free feed will have the new HD content starting with a free show all about Apples update to Leopard 10.5.2 plus a tutorial on using Spaces in Leopard. Now I had planned on changing the look and feel of the show (along with the sound!) and fortuitously, I'd arranged to have a new theme tune commissioned by Geoff Smith before Macworld. I've been holding on to this whilst I tried to learn a bit more about Motion and create some new opening and closing credits. The move to all HD gave me the required kick up the pants so this week has seen some long days and nights putting the new show format together. I hope you like it!

Technorati Tags: Apple TV, Apple, Podcasting

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