ScreenFlow 1.1 hit today, and there are over 80 fixes and improvements in the release notes for the current top-dog Mac screencasting application. If you weren't excited the first time we covered this, it might be time to look again. As for me, I had already forged a committed relationship with ScreenFlow. It's always a pleasure to see your partner get smarter and better looking after you tie the knot.

The new version exports faster, thankfully. The press release says export speeds are up 20 to 40% (across most presets), but a little TUAW testing showed that the web-preset exports were 40% faster and then some. And that's with video and audio actions, embedded QuickTime video and an additional MP3 audio track. Export time was a drawback of version 1.0 that I was willing to live with, but I'm quite grateful that I don't have to anymore.

I haven't experienced the oft-mentioned crashing that was plaguing some users, but improvements to overall stability may be of interest to those who have. There are interface improvements such as audio waveforms visible in the tracks, as well as the addition of markers which can be converted to QuickTime chapters. I won't drone on about the dozens of other fixes/changes right now but -- if release notes are your thing -- you can read them here. Or just grab the demo and see it in action. ScreenFlow has a price tag of $99 for a registered version, and 1.1 is a free upgrade for current owners.

Just last week we noted that BusySync 2, which adds Google calendar syncing to the iCal sync app, is now shipping. Another 2.0 would seem to be around the corner, as a post on the SpanningSync blog shows a video demo of Address Book -> Google contact synchronization coming in the next version of the utility.

While Plaxo and other tools are lining up to take on the contact sync challenge -- most sync only in one direction right now, although with the Google contacts API in play that's going to change -- it's nice to see SpanningSync picking up the torch on contacts as the competition on calendaring heats up.

[via ars technica]

There are so many ways to get your hands on a MacBook Air (and apparently several ways to lose your grip on one, as well). You could visit the Apple Store, or Best Buy, or shop online. You could take up a collection with friends and family, or prevail upon your spouse to get one for you.

Here's another idea: make a video about how VMware Fusion has helped you switch to the Mac is now your virtualization tool of choice, and you could win an Air. Submit your video by May 15 (every entry gets a Fusion t-shirt, so there are no losers) for your chance to walk, or trip, away with the laptop.

Despite a couple of high-profile callouts on the Fusion 'switched' minisite, I'm afraid that Mat and Chris aren't entering the contest. Too bad, guys!

Update:The VMware team has clarified that the video contest is about users who have switched to VMware Fusion from another way of running Windows on the Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels, Virtual PC, the power of the mind). Adjust your artistic vision appropriately.

After countless delays and the cancellation of Apple's booth at NAB 2008 (which starts next week), many of us assumed Final Cut Server would never materialize. However, today's store-closing Tuesday update changed all of that, and the product is out and available immediately. It's nearly a year late (it was announced at NAB 2007), but we'll take it!

Apple's press release describes Final Cut Server as, "a scaleable server application...allows searching across multiple disks and SAN volumes and enables viewing, annotation and approval of content from anywhere using a PC or Mac®."

The cross-platform nature of the client software is a huge win for production houses that are not fully Mac-ified. Even if your whole production suite is Mac, being able to login from a PC to search media clips or access media from a PC in your Final Cut workflow has great potential.

Read on for the rundown of the specs and system requirements for the server and client software.

It's always seemed to me that the image that comes from the built-in camera on my MacBook Pro should be more adjustable. We've previously mentioned iGlasses, a webcam utility (from the makers of the handy Call Recorder for Skype) which provides all of those missing controls. The utility recently updated to version 2.1, and adds a zoom button, stability improvements and compatibility with more applications.

iGlasses 2.1 lets you control color, exposure, zooming and cropping of your iSight (or one of several other webcams). It also provides several color adjustment "effects", if you're into that, and it's AppleScript-able so you can automate settings. Personally, I'm mostly interested in zooming and controlling lighting/color settings, which it handles quite well. Once the free, 7-day demo is installed, the adjustment palette shows up in most applications that use the iSight: iChat, Skype, Skitch, Pixelmator, Photo Booth and about 60 others.

iGlasses will set you back $9.95 and a free demo is available. The demo can be easily uninstalled by running the installer and clicking the "Uninstall" button.

The new documentary Welcome to Macintosh has just been been accepted to the Wisconsin Film Festival, and is scheduled to make its debut on April 6. The film features interviews with a variety of Mac-notables like Andy Hertzfeld, Guy Kawasaki and others, and traces the history of the development of the Mac since before its introduction. I have to admit I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, so I'll definitely be interested to see the film when it's released.

[via Macworld]

If you have MacBook Pro your external screen options just got a lot better. The ViDock Gfx from Village Tronic connects via the ExpressCard/34 slot and provides two DVI/VGA ports for driving two external monitors. So you can now hook up three external monitors: one to the built-in DVI port and then two to the ViDock for a display setup that'll rival Al's.

The ViDock Gfx is only available for pre-order though no pricing information had been released (apparently you submit the form and they'll get back to you with pricing).

[via Gizmodo]

Our good friends at Mahalo Daily took this short look at the Axiotron ModBook, which (you've probably seen) is a modified MacBook that's been turned into a tablet computer. I learned a couple of interesting things about the device -- first of all, it's not a touchscreen, it's really a tablet, which means you need a stylus to use it. Also, Apple is approving, if not actually supportive, of these things. They're supplying the MacBook bases to Axiotron as an "Apple Proprietary Solution Provider." One could infer from this that Apple doesn't think there's a big enough market for these to make it worth Apple's making an iTablet anytime soon.

The lovely and talented Veronica Belmont also runs through a few practical applications of the device, which I'd imagine are pretty standard on any Tablet PC -- the big draw here, obviously, is that it's a Mac, and you get all the software and UI-shininess contained therein. I don't know that I'm any more inclined to buy one after watching this (I kind of like my keyboard-laden PowerBook, to be quite honest), but it's cool to get a fun look at them in action.

Remember the recent unconfirmed quotes from the BBC that a version of the iPlayer was coming for the hallowed iPhone? Well in a surprise move, no doubt trying to gain a little momentum with today's SDK furore, a limited selection of shows from the iPlayer have been made available to UK residents on their iPhones. It's worth noting, however, that the service makes use of existing technologies on the iPhone -- not anything announced today.

At the moment only the BBC-produced 'Whistleblower' documentary seems to be working from the iPlayer website, with content being streamed-only via the iPhone's built-in QuickTime player -- quite the surprise given the heavy use of Windows-only technologies until fairly recently -- although we'd guess there's more shows on the way.

Of course, it's a beta service (when aren't they?) so you may not be able to access all the content and the usual caveats apply. As ever, the iPlayer is only for UK residents.

Steve Green's free and fascinating video effect utility CamTwist has been updated to version 1.7, including fixes for several bugs, adding AppleScript support and Flickr slideshows, as well as an entirely new tool called CamTwist Studio for live mixing. If you've got any curiosity about video effects on the Mac, you are in for a real treat with CamTwist.

The new piece of the puzzle, CamTwist Studio, lets you take preset effects, overlays, slide shows/canned video and camera mixes and do on-the-fly, multicamera previewing and switching, with only a couple of clicks -- a "television studio in a box." CamTwist leverages Quartz compositions to do its graphic magic, so it does require 10.4 or better and a reasonably speedy Quartz Extreme-capable machine (not to mention a video source like a webcam or iSight). While it isn't directly compatible with iChat, it works with almost every other live video service, including Skype, uStream and Yahoo! Live.

CamTwist can be a little bit sparse on first glance, but if you want to ramp up quickly to getting RSS feeds, lower thirds or fancy effects on your video with professional aplomb, check out Ben's excellent training clip on the documentation page. Our buddy Chris Pirillo did a walkthrough of CamTwist's functionality in his production setup ("I tried all the [video effect] software for Windows, and they all suck -- there's nothing close to CamTwist on Windows"), and Metacafe has a thorough rundown.

If you're having fun exploring CamTwist, you might also be interested in Stone Design's Videator ($49), Varasoft's Wirecast 3 ($450, cross-platform) or CamCamX from blackop ($59 for a one-year subscription). All three have a following for VJ and live mixing use, and are commercially supported. Still, for sheer mix-it-up fun you can't beat CamTwist.

[via Download Squad/MacUpdate]

Apple has already stolen the multitouch interface from the iPhone for the MacBook Air and the new MacBooks, but they haven't yet borrowed that other scrolling "feature," known here as "kinetic scrolling." If you'd like to steal it for your own Mac, however, jkOnTheRun has just the thing: a tip about Smart Scroll X, a program that lets you use your mouse to do some kinetic scrolling in any Mac app you want.

We've actually posted about Smart Scroll before, but the video is a pretty good demonstration of what's happening here. I'm not quite sure this is something Apple will want to implement in the OS, however -- it feels right enough on the iPhone, but I kind of like that my scroll wheel stops when I tell it to. If you'd rather have the iPhone experience on your usual Mac, however, the app is available as a free trial, or a complete license for $19.

[Via Nathan M]

A while back reader Michael Coyle was nice enough to send us this write-up on how to customize Leopard's Guest account, and just recently he sent along another guide that you might not need right away, but will come in handy when you really need it. He's got an in-depth look at how to create a custom menu style when authoring a DVD in Toast Titanium 8.

As he says, the default styles that come with the application are a little less than formal, so if you want to create a professional menu for the DVD that fits your needs, this will show you how. As far as I can tell, the style is just a Photoshop file with various layers for the DVD to use as a menu (selected, frames for videos and the border around them, and so on); so the trick is finding the right layers to edit and leaving everything else alone (so nothing breaks).

If you've got some DVD authoring in your future, and plan to use Toast to get it all done, there you go.

Hot on the heels of Auntie releasing a selection of videos for sale via the iTunes Store, we somehow missed yesterday's sneaky revelation that the BBC is intending to release some form of the BBC iPlayer for iPod touch and iPhone 'in the coming weeks.'

Why on earth is this important? The much-maligned quarter-billion-dollar iPlayer project has been thus-far Windows only (if you want to download content for the 7 days that it's available) or online-streamed via a Flash player. Astute readers may well also recall that the iPlayer has seen much criticised for its use of Microsoft DRM -- one of the main reasons us Mac citizens lack the ability to download shows from the service.

Quite what the forthcoming release means, in terms of watching the content, remains unclear. Digital Spy reports that the iPlayer will only work over WiFi -- meaning that it may not offer download-and-watch capabilities, choosing streaming or a Flash option like the one currently available. On top of that, this month we're told to expect the iPhone SDK, and that brings up some interesting questions.

Has the BBC signed up with Apple to use the DRM scheme currently found in the movie rentals our American cousins enjoy? Will the playback be done via some form of iPhone app surely not dissimilar to the YouTube app we currently have residing on our iTouches and iPhones, or will those continually-swirling Flash-for-iPhone rumours bring us answers? We'll let you read the tea-leaves, but this is quite an astonishing move from a corporation whose digital effort I had come to disregard in the wake of the initial iPlayer saga.

The iPlayer is, of course, UK-only now [and don't complain, non-British readers: we pays our moneys for the privilege, comprende?] so whatever comes of this, expect it to work only on our fair isle.

If you're a fan of Handbrake -- the tool that allows you to extract your DVDs* into more portable formats (such as your iPod / iPhone / Apple TV) -- listen up. Handbrake has hit version 0.9.2!

So what's changed from the last version, released back in October last year? Well, first-off the application is Leopard-only which may well irk some readers (debate away in the comments, folks). Throw in improved queueing, Sparkle updating for keeping Handbrake up-to-date, iPhone Anamorphic video, 'multi-track audio on Apple devices' and Elgato .eyetv file support. Of course, there's many, many, more enhancements that we're not mentioning, and the changelist shows there's plenty of new goodness in this release.

All for the very excellent price of free, the new version is available from the Handbrake site for Mac, WIndows and Linux citizens.

*It goes without saying that you should only use Handbrake for DVDs which you are licensed to do so. TUAW does not condone piracy.

Thanks, Rouven!

Time is running out for Toshiba and friends; the high definition format wars are almost over now officially over. HD DVD hasn't found the footing it needed to earn the support of retailers and studios alike, and it seems that Sony's champion, Blu-Ray, is going to win the day.

So what does that mean for Apple users? Several years ago, Apple latched onto Blu-Ray as a format, but aside from an MCE Blu-Ray drive, we still haven't seen HD media used in any of Apple's products. There have been plenty of rumors (aren't there always?), but whether it's because they want to sell HD content in iTunes or for some other reason, a Blu-Ray drive to replace the SuperDrive hasn't happened yet.

Which leaves us wondering: now that we've seemingly got a winner, will Apple step up with the Blu gear? Of course, the MacBook Air doesn't even have a drive, and we're sure Apple would love to have content distributed only through iTunes and Apple TV. But surely consumers still have a need for physical media -- will Apple now take advantage of its early-advocacy position on Blu-Ray and update the hardware?