New Book on Apple’s iWork

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Filed in: Apple | Training Products

Be sure to take a quick peek at my latest book, Apple Training Series : iWork 06 with iLife 06. It was co-written with the entire office at RHED Pixel. It goes in-depth on both Pages and Keynote and shows off the latest features. We use pages to create newsletters and flyers for the office and I usually use Keynote to create dynamic multimedia presentations. The book is full-color and comes with a DVD-ROM and all the source files you need to get hands-on with both programs.

For a free handout, click here.
For more information, click here.

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3D Made Easier

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Filed in: Adobe | Apple

While at the National Association of Broadcaster's show, I picked up a copy of Zaxwerks' ProAnimator. This product is both a program and a plug-in. It is useful for creating animated text or logos. You can import Adobe Illustrator files, 3D models, or type original text in using any system font. It's fast and easy and give impressive results.
For more info.

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NuLooq First Look

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Filed in: Adobe | Apple | Other

The fine folks at Logitech sent one of these over for me to play with. It's an alternative input device for Mac users (primarily for Adobe apps - for now). It allows for a customizable interface and is really comfortable to use. Essentially, you can program frequently used tools to be literally 'at hand' or via a custom floating palette on-screen. So far, it's a winner, and I'll update you as I go deeper.
To find out more.

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MacBook Pro Thoughts

Monday, May 29, 2006 Filed in: Apple

Took the plunge and bought a MacBook Pro 17 inch laptop. Been using it for about two weeks and figured I'd share my thoughts.

Pros:
- It's fast as heck
- The Dual layer DVD and FW800 port are back in
- The screen is beautiful from almost any angle
- Running apps under Rosetta (like Photoshop) is pretty smooth
- The built-in iSight camera makes it easier to see my family while on the road.

Cons:
- After a while, it feels like you can cook an egg on it (with great power comes great warmth)
- My Wireless Internet card doesn't fit as Apple felt the need to adopt a new Express Card format which no one has released wireless cards for
- Can't get any spare batteries and Apple's site says shipping in 2-3 weeks (no luck in stores either)

All in all... very happy and I suspect with time the missing hardware will come available and the charred flesh on my lap will grow numb.

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FCP Rescue Saves the Day

Monday, May 29, 2006 Filed in: Apple

When using Final Cut Pro, it's a little too easy to corrupt your user preferences (especially if you have multiple video decks hooked up). This useful program allows you to quickly backup and restore your user preferences. This shareware program allows you to save the following:
• User preferences
• Audio/Video settings
• System settings
• Windowsettings
• Keyboard setup
• Easy setups

Free download

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Adobe Releases New Photoshop CS2 Update

Saturday, May 20, 2006 Filed in: Adobe

Adobe has released an important maintenance update to Photoshop CS. No, it does not make it a Universal application for Mac users, but it does fix several little things, including:
• Photoshop no longer hangs for several seconds when using painting tools with quick strokes.
• Documents containing a large number of text layers now open more quickly.
• Problems related to palettes (slow redraw, palettes go white, possible crash) have been addressed.
• Slow performance when toggling layer visibility has been fixed.
• Info palette numbers are now displayed and updated when moving a curve point in Curves via the cursor keys.
• Problems opening certain TIFF and PSB files greater than 2GB have been resolved.  
The download is free and should be downloaded by all users.

Download Mac
Download Windows

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