AtomicView bills itself as a super-efficient multimedia manager with an interface that "combines elegance and sobriety." When I first loaded it up, I was frustrated enough with its almost total disregard for consistent UI design and controls to swear it off for a week. I've given it another run and moved its rank up to tolerable.
It does have enough pros to level out its cons, and we can call it a wash. I'm bothering to mention it here for two reasons: we've had some enthusiastic reports and some of you may find it useful as a middle-of-the-road solution between iPhoto and something more robust like Aperture or Bridge.
At 95 Euros (about $150), it doesn't come in much cheaper than the $199 Aperture 2. But it does handle more file types and if your needs are a little broader than just photography, it's a viable alternative. It lacks some of the sorting features common to other programs, but it allows for grouping, advanced boolean searching of metadata with smart folder capabilities and full screen navigation/preview with multi-monitor support. Here's the thing about the boolean search, though: as far as I can tell, there's no universal search. I can't type "pants" and pull up every item that has "pants" in any of its metadata. I have to build a search one line at a time, looking through each field of each metadata type for my keyword.
Mac Mini users have been waiting a long time for a true dual-monitor solution. Sure there are a bunch of work-arounds out there that let you run more than one screen at a time but a real multi-screen solution hasn't yet been available as far as I know. (Honestly, I haven't been looking all that hard--so if there's one I missed let me know in the comments.)
Display Link has finally decided to let the mini come to the multi-display party. TUAW reader Nick tipped us off to these new beta drivers for Mac OS X.
The DisplayLink hardware supports up to 4 USB-based monitors. You're limited to Intel Macs but minis and MacBook Airs are supported. The beta does not support OpenGL acceleration so Keynote and iPhoto slide shows will not properly function.
From what I could tell from the site, Display Link seems to be sold with third party branding. The Kensington USB docking station (model 33415) for $140 is apparently the product in question.
Screencasting is becoming a standard method of conveying software-related information. I'm fairly certain that even my mom knows the word, which is my typical buzz-guage. And here you were, thinking "I wish there was yet another contender in the screencast recording arena", right? Lucky you.
Synium's Screenium, which is currently in beta preview, is a new arrival in an alreadyteemingcategory of software. It has standard features like fullscreen, fixed area and mouse-follow capture, hotkey integration and adjustable quality/frame rate with capture presets. It also boasts a single window capture mode and frame rates up to 60fps. I don't know why you'd need to capture a screen at 60fps, but it can't hurt to know it's available.
In my testing, Screenium performed exceptionally well in the area of small filesize, high quality captures and its default presets were simple and useful. It also gets high marks for ease of use. And it didn't max out my CPU and turn my fans into Harrier jets after 2 minutes, which is kind of nice when you're recording microphone audio. It's got some distance to cover before the official release in February, but Screenium is looking like a strong contender.
Here's a quickie update notice: Adobe recently updated both Premiere Pro and Soundbooth for complete Leopard compatibility.
Premiere Pro 3.1.1, a 54MB update, also includes "important bug fixes" (but what they are, is anyone's guess), and is available from Adobe's website, in addition to the 4.1MB Soundbooth fix.
A lot has changed in the video production realm over the past year, and thankfully, Apple's recent Final Cut Express 4 addresses these new advancements in camcorder capture and post-production technology. It's been a full year and a half since Final Cut Express 3.5, and there's a number of notable updates and enhancements that make the latest version 4 worth a look.
Thankfully, Jeff Carlson at Macworld gives us a nice look at some of the new additions in Final Cut Express 4, which was released less than two weeks ago. The software now includes AVCHD support, mixed video format timeline functionality, 50 new FxPlug plug-ins, the new ability to import iMovie '08 projects, and more. Give his advance look a read to learn more about this important inclusions. Sounds like this one will be worth the update. Expect a full review from the Macworld folks soon.
Elgato's EyeTV software lets users watch, record and schedule TV on their Macs, as well as transfer recordings to the iPod. I've got an EyeTV Hybrid connected to my G4 iMac and it works wonderfully, despite the older processor and modest video card (64 MB DDR RAM). Our own Mike Rose wrote a thorough review in March which you can read here.
Today, Elgato announced EyeTV software version 2.5 (available Sept. 25th), which has some cool features. The most exciting is Wi Fi access to your recordings with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Both can connect to a web server running within EyeTV 2.5 (via Safari), browse the EyeTV archive and playlists and play shows with a touch. Very cool. Other changes include:
One-click export of files for the iPhone and iPod touch.
The EyeTV window can be set to float above all other windows (Yay!)
Improved H.264 HDTV playback (This requires at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor)
Time-shift recording for analog tuners
This update is free for registered users. Elgato's EyeTV software requires Mac OS 10.4 and at least a PPC 500MHz G4.
Earlier today, BeLight released version 2.2 of Swift Publisher, their nifty page layout application. If you're unfamiliar, Swift Publisher does a very nice job of making flyers, bookets, catalogs, etc. I used it for a couple of small projects, and enjoyed the experience.
Version 2.2 brings the following changes:
Compatibility with Leopard
Improved iPhoto import
New default zoom setting
Various bug fixes
Swift Publisher requires Mac OS 10.3 or later, is universal and a single license will cost you $44.95US.
Earlier today, Ambrosia released version 2.1.1 of their popular screen capture tool (we've written about Snapz Pro X several times). For the unfamiliar: Snapz Pro X lets you capture what you're doing on your Mac's screen - or just a portion thereof - as a Quicktime movie. It's a fantastic way to make screencasts, and also snags audio and still images.
Version 2.1.1 brings a number of changes, including:
Improved registration experience
Several squashed bugs, including the blank frames at the end of some movies and garbled video capture on older, nVidia-equipped Macs
Improved performance for audio captures
We like Snapz Pro X quite a bit. Try it out.
A single license will cost you $69US. It's universal and requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or later.
This week's rig - and we're only guessing here - is owned by a musician. Here we see a Power Mac G5, Cinema Display, LaCie external HD, speakers and a slew of recording equipment. Looks cool, ryan.gilligan, though the stickers on that beautiful Mac kind of make us cringe.
If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. Each Sunday we'll comb through the most recent entries and declare a "Rig of the Week!"
You may have noticed that Apple doesn't want you taking screenshots of DVD movies you're watching with their DVD Player software. If you try one of the usual keyboard shortcuts while a DVD is playing, you'll get a message that says something along the lines of, "Nice try, Bub."
If you still insist on getting that screen grab, check out DVD Snap. It will let you grab a full screen capture, a smaller window-sized screenshot and even set up sequential captures (every 6 seconds, for example). Pretty useful if you wanted to set up a slideshow.
DVD Snap is universal and requires Mac OS 10.4 or later. A single license will cost you $19.95US. Of course, Snapz Pro does this (and a lot more) for only slightly more money, so shop around.
So you've set up your Apple TV, and now you want to extend your available content beyond the iTunes Store. Aside from ripping your own DVD's, what can you do?
Check out HungryFlix. They distribute independent films specifically formatted for the Apple TV (iPod versions are available as well), and their collection ranges from shorts to full length features, across a number of genres. Most of the films are only a few dollars to purchase, and you can even sell your work to HungryFlix if you're on the other side of the camera.
If you've got an Apple TV and indies are your thing, check out HungryFlix.
This year, The Flux is hosting its second annual iPod Film Festival, the only festival dedicated to short films formatted specifically for Apple's portable media device. The top 25 finalists have been made available for viewing and download on The Flux's website or through iTunes, with entries in the Student, Indie and Kitchen Sink film categories. Don't be surprised to see at least one Mac-themed entry in there. Anyway, here's a good reason to fire up that iPod for some good ol' short film watching. Hmm... perhaps next year the fest will go meta, and only feature films about the iPod itself, formatted for the iPod?
Avid has been the standard, and long-established, non-linear editing software of choice in the film industry until Apple's Final Cut Pro began to challenge its dominance, and now many Avid editors are making "the switch" to FCP as it has picked up the pace. With that, the "Avid versus Final Cut Pro" debate has always reared its head wherever editors gather, on websites, forums, etc., but now, Avid2FCP, an official resource has launched that hopes to ease the user transition from Avid to Apple's own video editing application.
Avid2FCP is run by a group of experienced editors who hope to shared their "Switcher Stories", and other beneficial resources and guides for editors from Avid backgrounds that now work with Final Cut Pro. Despite the name of the site, it is not intended to be a jab at Avid, but instead make easier the shift to FCP, in a friendly and responsible fashion. There is some interesting content up now, and I expect that this site has the potential to grow into a very valuable resource for all video editors.
TrueDisc is a new CD/DVD burning application that features "master copy" burning capabilities, for the creation of discs that are highly resistant to damage. TrueDisc (yes, the company shares the same name as its software) claims that up to 90% of a disc's data can be damaged before its software is unable to access and read it. To create a master copy, TrueDisc breaks up files into cells, adding special so-called "redundant cells" to protect the original content. That means the less data you burn to a disc, the more redundant cells that can be created, but TrueDisc promises maximum space efficiency, and the software uses a non-proprietary file format for the greatest ease of use for recovering data. The software supports burning of non-rewritable media only, such as CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R/DVD+R DL, and it is available for $52 for a limited time, with a regular price tag of $89.
Ok, so for whatever reason you just need to have the ability to encode darling little WMVs on your Mac, Flip4Mac is probably the way you'll want to go, and macZOT! makes the encoding software more appealing with a nice 35% off discount. The full-fledged Flip4Mac WMV Studio package typically runs $49, but with this offer (good for today only) the price gets knocked down to just under $32. As a side note, you don't need to spend any money to play Windows Media files: simply grab the free plugin. The software requires OS X 10.3.9, and QuickTime 6.5 or later. (Don't shoot the messenger!)
AtomicView bills itself as a super-efficient multimedia manager with an interface that "combines elegance and sobriety." When I first loaded it up, I was frustrated enough with its almost total disregard for consistent UI design and controls to swear it off for a week. I've given it another run and moved its rank up to tolerable. 
Screencasting is becoming a standard method of conveying software-related information. I'm fairly certain that even my mom knows the word, which is my typical buzz-guage. And here you were, thinking "I wish there was yet another contender in the screencast recording arena", right? Lucky you.
Here's a quickie update notice: Adobe recently updated both Premiere Pro and Soundbooth for complete Leopard compatibility. 
A lot has changed in the video production realm over the past year, and thankfully, Apple's recent 
Earlier today, BeLight released 
Earlier today, Ambrosia released version 2.1.1 of their 
This week's rig - and we're only guessing here - is owned by a musician. Here we see a Power Mac G5, Cinema Display, LaCie external HD, speakers and a slew of recording equipment. Looks cool, ryan.gilligan, though the stickers on that beautiful Mac kind of make us cringe.
You may have noticed that Apple doesn't want you taking screenshots of DVD movies you're watching with their DVD Player software. If you try one of the usual keyboard shortcuts while a DVD is playing, you'll get a message that says something along the lines of, "Nice try, Bub." 
So you've set up your Apple TV, and now you want to extend your available content beyond the iTunes Store. Aside from 
This year, The Flux is hosting its second annual 
Avid has been the standard, and long-established, non-linear editing software of choice in the film industry until Apple's Final Cut Pro began to challenge its dominance, and now many Avid editors are making "the switch" to FCP as it has picked up the pace. With that, the "Avid versus Final Cut Pro" debate has always reared its head wherever editors gather, on websites, forums, etc., but now, 
Ok, so for whatever reason you just need to have the ability to encode darling little WMVs on your Mac, Flip4Mac is probably the way you'll want to go, and macZOT! makes the encoding software more appealing with a nice 35% off 
