The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Mini-review of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Editionhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Mac OS X : The Missing ManualIf you're trying to figure out what to buy yourself with the gift card you got this holiday season, let me recommend David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition. I was fortunate to get a copy of it for Christmas this year (thanks, sweetie!) and it's 866 pages of sweet, Leopard-y goodness.

The book is divided into six sections that cover just about every conceivable thing you could ever want to know about the OS. It takes a look at how to maneuver around the desktop, how to use the native apps to their fullest potential, what to do with once your online with your Mac, and everything in between.

If you already know your way around OS X, this manual is a terrific reference tool for looking up obscure things you don't do very often, like tweaking onscreen colors to mimic a Windows PC monitor. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're a switcher there are roughly seven trazillion tips and tricks to help you learn how to get the most out of your new operating system.

Pogue's writing style is upbeat, easy to understand, and sometimes downright hilarious. The book is well laid-out and progresses fairly intuitively, although the editor seems to have gone a little crazy with the headings, sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings on many of the pages. Also, while I'm sure Pogue touches on all 300 of Leopard's new features, it's not always immediately clear which features he's describing are different from the previous version, Tiger.

Despite these minor shortcomings, I love this book and think it's a great addition to any Mac users bookshelf. This manual is one you don't want to miss.
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]]>bookmanualmissingmissing manualoreillypoguereviewLisa Hoover2008-01-02T14:30:00+00:00TUAW Buyers Guide: Christmas Readinghttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/18/tuaw-buyers-guide-christmas-reading/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/18/tuaw-buyers-guide-christmas-reading/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/18/tuaw-buyers-guide-christmas-reading/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

I, like Christina, am a bit of a book lover - especially over the festive season. Normally found looking through a formidable library of books, what better way to stave off the pre-Macworld hype (at least for a few hours) than a relevant book. Unlike reader Matt Holland, who chose to use his MacBook as a reader (possibly some sideways-reading with ComicBookLover?), I'm going to be sticking to books of the printed realm. Christina's recommendations for a few books can be found here.


Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How The Mac Was Made

Long-serving Apple fans are no-doubt aware of the Folklore.org website - home to the anecdotes of how the original Mac came into being - but others may be intrigued to know that the site's collation of stories served as the collection point for this particular book. At just under 300 pages (including full-page copies of design notes from the early eighties) it's a particularly nice gift, hardcover and all. Sure, you can get to the website and read the stories, but as a gift? It's a no-brainer - especially at $16 from Amazon (UK Price: £11).


iCon: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business

Whilst covering more than simply this past decade of Steve Jobs' life, this infamous book covers the much-famed second intersection of Apple and Steve Jobs fortunes. Not always flattering of Steve, it's a fascinating read - and now goes into the Pixar / Disney dealings after being updated. There's plenty of Steve Jobs books, yet this remains one of my favourite. $16 from Amazon (UK Price: £11).


Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual

David Pogue, the New York Times' utterly brilliant Technology columnist, is a hero of ours here at TUAW HQ (currently located somewhere near the South Coast of England). World renowned for bringing us delights such as 'iPhone: The Musical', he's been busy at work with the Missing Manual for Leopard. If you're in need of a Leopard reference book, or tutorial book, I'd heartily recommend this latest edition. $24 from Amazon (UK Price: £15)

Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs

Admission: I've not read this one. But come Christmas Day, I hope there's a copy waiting for me! Fake Steve needs little introduction. Supposedly a world-famous CEO (I mean, he 'invented the friggin' iPhone. Have you heard of it?'), oPtion$ (as the book's cover goes) tells the fictional story of how Fake Steve handled, or otherwise, the stock backdating scandal. Laughes are guaranteed. $15 from Amazon (U.K. Price: £11)

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Second Edition)

Written by Aaron Hillegass, this is perhaps the book for developers new to Cocoa and Objective-C. In case you're wondering why this is such a seminal book, Hillegass was 'senior trainer and curriculum developer' at NeXT as well as working at Apple before heading to Big Nerd Ranch to teach their Cocoa course. Whilst an exceptional gift for the coder-types out there: a word to the wiser that the 3rd edition is due in mid-2008, so do bear that in mind. $31.50 from Amazon (U.K. Price: £18).

--

There's a plethora of Apple-related books available, so if you've got a favourite to share that's not in the short-list here, let us know in the comments! Note: Today is the last day for standard Amazon delivery, so act quickly if you're wanting to order! We've even made sure all the books mentioned are currently available for delivery before December 24th.
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]]>christmas-mac-readinggeeky-booksgift-guideholidashmac-booksTUAW-Buyers-Guidetweet-thisNik Fletcher2007-12-18T10:15:00+00:00A huge collection of Apple TV resourceshttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/14/a-huge-collection-of-apple-tv-resources/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/14/a-huge-collection-of-apple-tv-resources/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/14/a-huge-collection-of-apple-tv-resources/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Poor Apple TV - the iPhone has been outshining the handy little media hub, and Jobs arguably might not have helped matters by calling it a hobby (though, personally, that makes me optimistic for its future). Fortunately, last100 has compiled a very, very thorough list of Apple TV resources that spans reviews from various industry sites, dedicated books, blogs and wikis, how-to tutorials for converting video, podcasts and, of course, the burgeoning hacking industry that has surfaced. If you're looking for a useful springboard into the world of the Apple TV, this is by far the most comprehensive resource I've seen yet.

[via Apple TV Hacks]
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]]>Apple TVAppleTvblogshackslast 100Last100podcastsresourceswikisDavid Chartier2007-08-14T13:03:00+00:00iPhone: The Missing Manual available in August, PDF bundle available nowhttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/18/iphone-the-missing-manual-available-in-august-pdf-bundle-avail/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/18/iphone-the-missing-manual-available-in-august-pdf-bundle-avail/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/18/iphone-the-missing-manual-available-in-august-pdf-bundle-avail/#commentsFiled under: ,

The venerable David Pogue has worked his relentless magic yet again to conjure up yet another manual that apparently should have been in the box with iPhone: The Missing Manual (though one could certainly argue that there would have been no way to fit a typical book in the iPhone's impressively compact packaging anyway). As the promo email that I just received states, Pogue's iPhone coverage is summarized into four primary categories: the phone and organizer, the iPod, the Internet, and the hardware and software. Pogue even tackles such issues as synching an iPhone with multiple machines and ways to solve the iPhone's lack of a spam filter. Heck, Mr. Pogue is so into the iPhone, he even sang about switching to it.

If you're already hooked and itching to both buy and read, O'Reilly is offering a bundle deal right up your alley: though the $20 book doesn't ship until sometime in August, you can purchase a $24.99 bundle to get a PDF copy right now. Either way, you can find out more details at O'Reilly's product page for iPhone: The Missing Manual.
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]]>booksdavid pogueDavidPogueiphonemissing manualMissingManualo reillyo'reillyOReillypdfsDavid Chartier2007-07-18T08:00:00+00:00Vista vs. OS X by the bookshttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/17/vista-vs-os-x-by-the-books/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/17/vista-vs-os-x-by-the-books/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/17/vista-vs-os-x-by-the-books/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Tim O'Reilly, he of the animal books (as I like to call them), often posts about how O'Reilly's book sales can be indicative of tech trends in general. Thanks to zealous statistic keeping Tim has a wealth of knowledge about his sales (as as good business man should). The latest trend that Tim has set his sights on is OS adoption, specifically that of Vista/Tiger. Clearly, O'Reilly has sold more Vista related books vs. OS X books (darn marketshare), however, after 6 months Tiger books completely replaced sales of Pather books while XP books are still selling strong (though Vista sales are 50% higher than XP).

What does this tell us? Mac users, at least those that buy tech books, are more likely to upgrade their OS to the latest version while Windows users are taking a wait and see approach with Vista.

How many of you are planning on upgrading to Leopard as soon as it comes out?
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]]>booksoreillytech bookTechBookvistaScott McNulty2007-05-17T20:30:00+00:00TextMate: Power Editing for the Machttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/02/28/textmate-power-editing-for-the-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/02/28/textmate-power-editing-for-the-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/02/28/textmate-power-editing-for-the-mac/#commentsFiled under: ,

Some people balk at the idea of paying for a text editor. 'Doesn't OS X ship with a pretty good text editor called TextEdit,' they say. That is very true, but if you make your living creating text documents (whether they be code, blog posts, or content of some other kind) TextEdit just won't cut it.

Enter TUAW favorite TextMate. This program is the swiss army knife of text processing. It includes a number of features that make coding and writing a breeze. It is a complex application, and as such the learning curve can be a little steep. The Pragmatic Programmers latest effort, 'TextMate Power Editing for the Mac,' hopes to turn you into a TextMate pro. Author James Edward Gray II shows the reader the ins and outs of TextMate, and teaches you how to get the most out of this great app.

'TextMate Power Editing for the Mac' is available now. The physical book costs $29.95, the PDF version costs $20, and you can grab both for $37.45.
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]]>booktext editortexteditTextEditortextmateScott McNulty2007-02-28T16:30:00+00:00Graham Nash is not just a stoned California hippiehttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/12/graham-nash-is-not-just-a-stoned-california-hippie/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/12/graham-nash-is-not-just-a-stoned-california-hippie/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/12/graham-nash-is-not-just-a-stoned-california-hippie/#commentsFiled under: ,



What the heck is one of my favorite guitar-playing, harmony-singing, songwriting hippies, Graham Nash, doing at Macworld?

Most of you probably associate Graham with the folk-rock band, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young). But Graham wasn't at the Peachpit booth this week talking about music... he was talking about photography (his own, which is excellent, and others), as well as fine art digital imaging and printmaking.

Graham, along with R. Mac Holbert (CSN's former road manager), conceived and founded Nash Editions in 1990 in order to develop methods of outputting Nash's digitally manipulated black and white photographs. Starting in the late eighties with a $125,000 IRIS 3047 Graphics Printer, which they heavily modified (warranty be damned!) in order to accommodate a wider range of papers, through their work today with Epson 9800, 7800 and 4800 printers, Nash Editions is now recognized as the premier fine art digital print studio in the country, if not the world. Both Graham and Holbert were on hand after they spoke to sign copies of their new book, Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing.

As a bit of a reformed hippie myself, I was just happy not to have to wade through clouds of pot smoke to get close to Nash here, as I have had to in some other venues.
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]]>digital imagingDigitalImaginggraham nashGrahamNashnash editionsNashEditionspeachpitR. Mac HolbertR.MacHolbertLaurie A. Duncan2007-01-12T11:00:00+00:00Review: The Perfect Thinghttp://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/17/review-the-perfect-thing/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/17/review-the-perfect-thing/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/17/review-the-perfect-thing/#commentsFiled under: , ,

'The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness' (Simon & Schuster, 284 pages) is the latest work from Steven Levy, available in finer booksellers on October 23rd. You might recall some of his other works: 'Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution,' and 'Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything,' to name a few. We were able to get our hands on an advance copy, and you know what that means! A review just for you, dear TUAW readers.

Mr. Levy is clearly enamored with the concept of 'shuffle.' He mentions it numerous times throughout the pages of this book, but he has also taken it a step further. The book, itself, is composed of a number of stand alone essays. These essays have enabled the publisher to print four different versions of the book, with the chapters 'shuffled.' Only the first and last chapters remain in the same place for each printing. This is a great marketing gimmick, but sadly it negatively impacts the quality of the book.

I sat down and read 'The Perfect Thing' from cover to cover in one sitting. Since each chapter was written to stand alone Mr. Levy couldn't guarantee that you would know a certain tidbit about the iPod that was uncovered in another chapter. He must repeat himself in order to make sure you get the whole story. This is a sensible approach given the shuffled nature of the book but a slightly annoying since one, presumably, is going to be reading the book in the order it is presented in. I would suggest, for the paperback printing, this shuffle idea be abandoned.

Despite the repetition at times, Levy weaves a very good tale about the creation of the iPod, and the impact it has had on us. Levy had access to Jobs, Schiller, and Ive so he can really tell the whole story (and yes, Levy backs up the claim that it was Phil Schiller's idea for the scrollwheel). One of the more amusing stories involves Bill Gates' first encounter with an iPod, but you'll have to read the book for all the details.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Levy might go a little overboard in his praise of the iPod. He often fetishizes the device, imparting upon it almost religious signficance. The iPod is an important device, but I'm not sure it is the greatest invention of the 21st century.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Levy's other books, or anyone looking to get the full story behind the iPod.
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]]>steven levyStevenLevythe perfect thingThePerfectThingScott McNulty2006-10-17T19:00:00+00:00iLounge releases The Free iPod Book 2.2http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/18/ilounge-releases-the-free-ipod-book-2-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/18/ilounge-releases-the-free-ipod-book-2-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/18/ilounge-releases-the-free-ipod-book-2-2/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Those iPod-obsessed kids over at iLounge have updated their Free iPod Book to version 2.2 (yes, books can have version point updates too). Four all-new sections are included in this updated version:
  • Nike + iPod Sport Kit
  • Troubleshooting Your iPod
  • U2 iPod + iPod Pack-Ins
  • Backstage at iLounge
You'll also find the typical kinds of updates to previous content you would expect. This 200+ page "free manual on getting the most from your iPod" is available from iLounge's update post, as well as from the iLounge Library. Enjoy.
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]]>backstagebookfreeiloungeipodnewnikesectionstroubleshootingU2updateupdatesDavid Chartier2006-07-18T20:00:00+00:00Essential Tiger Server Admin book canceledhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/22/essential-tiger-server-admin-book-canceled/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/22/essential-tiger-server-admin-book-canceled/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/22/essential-tiger-server-admin-book-canceled/#commentsFiled under: ,

Xserve

If you just recieved an Xserve running Tiger and you were hoping that O'Reilly would be releasing an updated version of their Panther server admin book, you're out of luck. Faced with the choice between canceling the book or making sacrifices for production time, the author decided not to go forward with the project.

O'Reilly doesn't think there is a demand for an OS X server admin book, if you want one let them know!
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]]>bookosxservertigerScott McNulty2005-12-22T08:30:00+00:00Take Control of .Mac ebook releasedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/17/take-control-of-mac-ebook-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/17/take-control-of-mac-ebook-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/17/take-control-of-mac-ebook-released/#commentsFiled under: ,

cover_dot_mac.gifAnother Take Control ebook by prolific author Joe Kissel is available for download. This one is Take Control of .Mac. It promises to cover all of .Mac's features -- Mail, iDisk, Sync, Backup, HomePage, and more. You can download a free 31-page excerpt of the book. If you like what you see, download the whole thing for $10. We haven't had a chance to read it yet, but if it's like other Take Control books, it'll be popular.

Continue reading Take Control of .Mac ebook released

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]]>Jan Kabili2005-12-17T15:00:00+00:00Non Stop Mac likes Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guidehttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/14/nonstop-mac-likes-mac-os-x-tiger-pocket-guide/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/14/nonstop-mac-likes-mac-os-x-tiger-pocket-guide/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/14/nonstop-mac-likes-mac-os-x-tiger-pocket-guide/#commentsFiled under: ,

Mac OS X BookNon Stop Mac offers up a review of O'Reilly's pocket size reference book, 'Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide.' While the review doesn't discover why a dog is on the cover of a book about an operating system named after a big cat (to be fair all OS X related O'Reilly books have a doggie on the cover, I know not why) it does offer up a resounding huzzah to the book.

Looks like this one will make a great stocking stuffer for that Mac user of yours who might want to get a little more out of Tiger, or who needs a refresher on some of the finer points of the Mac OS.

Update: It looks like the cover of the book was updated to include a tiger, and I didn't notice. I often have trouble telling a tiger and a german shepherd apart, but really who doesn't? Thanks to BrianC for pointing that out.

Continue reading Non Stop Mac likes Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide

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]]>Scott McNulty2005-12-14T11:30:00+00:00Stocking Stuffers: iTunes lists Best Audiobooks of 2005http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/stocking-stuffers-itunes-lists-best-audiobooks-of-2005/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/stocking-stuffers-itunes-lists-best-audiobooks-of-2005/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/stocking-stuffers-itunes-lists-best-audiobooks-of-2005/#commentsFiled under: , ,

historianApple has made gift giving a little easier by releasing several "Best Of..." lists in the audiobooks section of the iTunes Music Store [link]. Featured lists include the best of literature and fiction, health, body and mind, mysteries and thrillers and periodicals. Remember that you can send any audiobook as a gift by clicking "Gift this item" in the iTMS. Because you're not going to use that iPod to listen to music all day.

Continue reading Stocking Stuffers: iTunes lists Best Audiobooks of 2005

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]]>Dave Caolo2005-12-13T15:30:00+00:00iPod Garage releases Holiday Nanobookhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/ipod-garage-releases-holiday-nanobook/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/ipod-garage-releases-holiday-nanobook/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/13/ipod-garage-releases-holiday-nanobook/#commentsFiled under: ,

nanobookThe iPod Garage has produced a free, downloadable eBook that quite thoroughly covers what you're going to want to know about the iPod nano. The Holiday Nanobook features articles, commentary and reviews of third party accessories, plus the winners of their photo contest. If you're giving an iPod nano this year, why not print this out and wrap them up together (It's 159 pages, so use the printer at work)?

The Holiday Nanobook is free and available here.

Continue reading iPod Garage releases Holiday Nanobook

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]]>holidayholidaysipodDave Caolo2005-12-13T12:00:00+00:00OS X for Hackers at Hearthttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/08/os-x-for-hackers-at-heart/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/08/os-x-for-hackers-at-heart/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/08/os-x-for-hackers-at-heart/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Hackers at heart I've never thought of myself as a 'hacker.' I have never terminaled into a government computer to see what I could see, I have never played tic tac toe with a mainframe at NORAD, nor have I ever called the Pope. All of that might be changing thanks to Syngress Publishing's newest book, 'OS X for Hackers at Heart.'

They say that this book is for anyone who wants to get a little more out of Tiger, and isn't afraid to dig and root around (ha! Get it? That's a little Unix type joke there). I'm sure that shortly after reading this book your friends and family alike will declare you 1337.

Continue reading OS X for Hackers at Heart

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]]>hackingmacos xOsXScott McNulty2005-12-08T12:00:00+00:00Useful little iPod accessories bookhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/06/useful-little-ipod-accessories-book/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/06/useful-little-ipod-accessories-book/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/12/06/useful-little-ipod-accessories-book/#commentsFiled under: , ,

ipodlifecover.gifBrowsing through the newest computer titles at a bookstore this weekend I came across this little gem: Your iPod Life: A Guide to the Best iPod Accessories from Playlist. Author Dan Frakes has put together a truly useful guide to iPod accessories, including cases, portable speakers, home speakers, headphones, car accessories, and general accessories. This little book is chock full of good information. There's a photo of each product, iPod compatibility icons, and down to earth evaluations of each product. The small guide is just the right size to take shopping with you, and the price is small too (currently $10.39 on Amazon). I used it to pick out my partner's Christmas present. (I can't tell you what it is because he's a faithful reader, but it's a goodie.) If you don't want to buy the book, you can get some of the same information by digging through Playlist's online product reviews.


Continue reading Useful little iPod accessories book

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]]>accessoriesipodJan Kabili2005-12-06T12:00:00+00:00Book: Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshellhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/book-mac-os-x-tiger-in-a-nutshell/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/book-mac-os-x-tiger-in-a-nutshell/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/book-mac-os-x-tiger-in-a-nutshell/#commentsFiled under: ,

Mac OS X Tiger in a NutshellO'Reilly's just firing them off this week. Yesterday it was a Missing Manual on iMovie and iDVD, today it's Tiger in a Nutshell, covering all the obvious new Tiger enhancements but focusing on the underlying graphics and Unix technologies, such as new ways to automate all those time-consuming, repetitive and batch tasks. In fact, the book's description claims to include the most complete Unix command reference in print - even more complete than the electronic manuals and documentation shipping with Tiger.

If you're jonesing for a copy, it looks like the book is only available in print ($39.95 USD) and not in O'Reilly's Safari Bookshelf - yet.

[via MacMinute]

Continue reading Book: Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshell

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]]>David Chartier2005-11-29T15:30:00+00:00Take Control of Apple Mail in Tiger just releasedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/Take-Control-of-Apple-Mail-in-Tiger-just-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/Take-Control-of-Apple-Mail-in-Tiger-just-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/29/Take-Control-of-Apple-Mail-in-Tiger-just-released/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

takecontrol_mail.gifIf you use Apple Mail in Tiger, the new ebook Take Control of Apple Mail in Tiger is worth investigating, if only because it's touted as the only available book about Mail 2.0 and because it's part of the familiar Take Control series. Author Joe Kissell covers the nuts and bolts of using Mail 2.0, explains new features, offers tips and advice, and suggests solutions to common problems. After skimming the 33-page free downloadable excerpt, I think I'll pony up the $10 asking price to read the whole downloadable 184-page ebook. Author Joe Kissel also penned Take Control of Email with Apple Mail, covering Apple Mail in Panther, which is available for download from publisher TidBITS Electronic Publishing. If you'd like another opinion, read this short review at Hawk Wings.

Continue reading Take Control of Apple Mail in Tiger just released

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]]>Jan Kabili2005-11-29T12:00:00+00:00Stocking Stuffer: Missing Manualhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/28/stocking-stuffer-missing-manual/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/28/stocking-stuffer-missing-manual/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/28/stocking-stuffer-missing-manual/#commentsFiled under: , ,

iMovie and iDVD5 Missing ManualLooking for a stocking stuffer in the $20-30 range? Hot on the heels of our own Dave Caolo's podcast on iMovie, and just in time for all those home movies you'll be shooting over the holidays comes iMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual from the O'Reilly Network (list price: $29.95, Amazon price: $19.77 as of this writing).

In addition to covering these two great iLife applications, the book also offers tips on some of the most important elements to shooting movies: capturing quality footage, including tips on composition, the ever-important lighting and even filming special events. You'll learn how to work with the timeline, adding transitions, narration, effects and sound. The book then goes beyond the creation process to teach you how to export your movie to various formats including tape, QuickTime movie, CD, the web and even that all-too-viewable 1" screen on your cell phone. Finally, iDVD makes its debut, as you'll learn how to add some style to your movie and burn it to DVD.

O'Reilly offers two ways to get your mits on this book, but only one (to my knowledge) can be used as a gift: you can always use the Safari Bookshelf service which allows you to read the book online and download individual chapters, or you can snag the more real-world and gift-friendly print version. Either way, this is a great book for an excellent application, just in time for the big holiday shopping season.

Continue reading Stocking Stuffer: Missing Manual

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]]>David Chartier2005-11-28T15:30:00+00:00The iPod book upgradedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/23/the-ipod-book-upgraded/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/23/the-ipod-book-upgraded/http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/23/the-ipod-book-upgraded/#commentsFiled under: ,

ipodbook.jpgIf you're looking for an inexpensive gift for the iPod lovers in your life, $13.59 at Amazon.com buys a copy of the new second edition of Scott Kelby's The iPod Book: Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. This book is not for experienced iPod users; but novices will like its simple step-by-step instructions for navigating the iTunes Music Store, integrating your iPod with your car, using the iPod Nano, and more. This is one of those no-nonsense books that bypass fancy theoretical explanations in favor of nuts and bolts instructions. It's also a fun read. Kelby has a wacky sense of humor that he doesn't try to keep in check in his popular books on the iPod, Photoshop, and digital photography.

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]]>Jan Kabili2005-11-23T13:50:00+00:00