Jeff Carlson (.Thought)

Projects Project Projects!

The past few months have been some of the busiest of my professional life, mostly due to a confluence of deadlines that I expected would be spread out over a longer period of time. But since I mostly write about Apple and the Mac, I never know when new products are going to hit. In this case, they hit all at once. Here's what has kept me up until 1 or 2 a.m. most nights over the last three months.

iMovie ’08 & iDVD ’08 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide: When Apple announced iLife ’08 with a completely rewritten version of iMovie, I knew I was in for a lot more work than I expected. I just received my first author copy of the book, and it looks great! I've almost completely rewritten the iMovie section to account for the changes in this version, including a new chapter on managing video (one of iMovie's hidden strengths, with keywording and marking features), and of course tips and tricks for using iMovie to its fullest. Amazon has the book now for just $16.49; if you click the link above, I get a small piece of the purchase, in case you want to help your favorite author (and hopefully that's me).

I've also just finished helping another Peachpit Press author update portions of his book, but since I'm not a listed co-author, I'm hesitant to name the title until it's available (which is very soon). In this case, I ended up doing most of the work in an extremely short amount of time due to scheduling issues. Getting 12 hours of sleep over three days while also entertaining visiting family is fun, to a degree, but not something I recommend often.

In addition to book projects, I've recently written several articles, in reverse-chronological order:

• First Look: Final Cut Express 4 (Macworld.com)
• Apple's so hip Part II is a must, some noteworthy features of Mac OS X 10.5 (Seattle Times).
• Apple's latest cool cat, a review of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for the Seattle Times.

In the midst of this, I've been preparing to become a father, a big project indeed!

Long Hours

Midnight Pavoni Rendezvous
Originally uploaded by Jeff Carlson

On Saturday, I planned on going to bed at the same time as Kim and get a good night's rest. We spent the day with family, watching my 2 year old niece for a few hours and then having dinner at my sister's house. She lives in Bremerton, a little over an hour away (either by ferry or by driving around Puget Sound), so as a result we didn't get home until about 11:30. Still, that was the earliest I'd been to bed all week by about 3 hours.

I'm spending most of my time updating my iMovie/iDVD Visual QuickStart Guide (the new edition isn't yet listed at Amazon), which is more work this time around because iMovie '08 is a completely new video-editing program. I'm starting to warm up to the changes Apple made, and realizing that this version is deeper than I expected it to be (which means more work for me to suss out those depths).

I'm also helping to update a colleague's book in roughly the same timeframe. And since Adobe just released Photoshop Elements 6, the update to the Elements Visual QuickStart Guide is in the mix, too. Sprinkle a few article assignments in there as well.

But why should work occupy all of my attention? Why not do something really out of the ordinary, like have hardwood floors installed in our house (finally)? Heck, I might as well start a family while I'm at it.

This explains why my trusty La Pavoni espresso maker pictured here has become a reliable friend late at night and early every morning. I'm not complaining (much), because I did say yes to all of these projects. It's fun in that overwhelming sort of way. I just don't know where September and October went.

NBC Yanking TV Shows from iTunes

Macworld: iTunes Store to stop selling NBC shows in September

NBC: "Thanks to Apple and iTunes, we're making money we otherwise wouldn't have made, so now we're greedy bastards."

I suppose some people might be compelled to try the new Fox/NBC Hulu.com service, which I read somewhere will require that you're online to watch. But I'll bet this action is going to push a lot of people — people willing to pay honest money for the convenience of downloading from iTunes — to the P2P services to download pirate copies. (It's not encouraging that the Hulu page includes an image for the series Drive, which Fox cancelled after four episodes.

I give it 9 months before NBC announces a return to iTunes.

Do I ever have my work cut out for me

Last week, Apple dropped a bomb I knew was going to arrive at the most inconvenient time: the release of iLife '08. For the last few years, the peak event for my professional life has been Macworld Expo in January, where Apple typically announces new hardware and software. One of my major book projects has been my iMovie & iDVD Visual QuickStart Guide, and in general Apple has revved the software each year.

But not this time around. Apple threw all of its focus onto the iPhone last January, without a peep about iLife. I was still plenty busy with projects, but suddenly my iMovie/iDVD book became a moving target. Months passed, and I heard rumors that perhaps iLife contained features that were specific to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but then Leopard was delayed until October. A few weeks ago, a rumor site named August 7 as the introduction of new iMacs and iLife, which incredibly turned out to be true.

Normally, I'd be happy (and I am, really - when you're a freelance writer, having work is good). The timing isn't so great in terms of other projects I'm working on now, but okay. It wasn't until I was following along with online coverage of Apple's special media event last Tuesday that I started hyperventilating.

iMovie '08 is a completely new application. Not just we've-cleaned-up-the-code new. No, the old iMovie HD has been shelved in favor of this new version, which sports a completely different interface, a few completely different ways of working (some good, some bad), and lots of features missing from its predecessor. I wrote about it in TidBITS last week (see "New iLife '08 Revealed, .Mac Upgraded," 2007-08-13), and also wrote the First Look article for Macworld, which starts out:

Take what you know about iMovie, put it into an imaginary box, and store that box in a corner of your brain for now. When Steve Jobs unveiled iLife ’08 (Best Current Price: $69.98) and mentioned that Apple is “completely replacing one of the key apps with something that takes it to a whole new level,” he wasn’t exaggerating. iMovie ’08 is a completely new video editing program that just happens to have inherited the iMovie name.

I've also written the First Look for iDVD '08, which was posted today:

If you watch Apple’s webcast of its August 7 product announcements for news of iDVD ’08, it may take you longer to jump ahead to that point in Steve Jobs’ presentation (the 54-minute mark or so) than the 33 seconds Jobs spends on the DVD-authoring component of iLife ’08 (Best Current Price: $69.98). That gives you a clue to how important DVD creation has become at Apple.

What all this means is that I need to basically rewrite a huge chunk of my iMovie book (it also affects a couple of the other projects on my plate). I was scheduled to write the full review of iMovie '08 for Macworld, but had to beg off when I realized that the laws of time and space wouldn't provide enough time to do it.

Now that I've stopped hyperventilating, I'm not really complaining (much), because this also represents a good challenge to create new material. That's exciting. But it also means that me and 2 a.m. get to become close friends again for the next month or two.

Voicemail QuickStart Guide

  Apple TV Pr0n 
  Originally uploaded by Jeff Carlson.

My wonderful copyeditor on my current book project made a funny side comment in email asking if I could explain her cell phone company some day in the same way that I describe how to do things in my books (embarrassingly, that page hasn't been updated in a while). Of course, she wasn't expecting an answer, and of course I provided one:

1. Push Voicemail button on teeny screen.
2. Listen as annoying female voice tells you that an old message is going to be deleted, and then plays it for you.
3. Resist urge to throw phone.
4. Press 7 to delete the damn email that I didn't keep in the first place.
5. Resist urge to throw phone.
6. Listen as annoying female voice tells you that you have a new message, tells you the time it was recorded, and asks if you want to listen to it.
7. Resist urge to throw phone.
8. Press 1 to listen to the message you dialed up Voicemail to hear in the first place.
9. Recognize that the message is a wrong number, a missed connection, or someone you know you don't need to hear.
10. Press 7 to delete message.
11. Resist urge to throw phone when annoying female voice scolds, "That is not a valid option."
12. Listen to same message, again, FROM THE BEGINNING.
13. Annoying female voice asks if you want to delete the message. Say "Yes!" even though you know she can't hear you (but maybe the government can).
14. Press 7 to delete.
15. Give in to the urge. Throw phone.

Yes, I've run into this (almost verbatim) recently. Can you tell?

My Apple TV Review at Seattle Times

Instead of a regular Practical Mac column this week, I reviewed the Apple TV: Computer, television learning to get along.

Despite my few reservations, the Apple TV is compelling because Apple has done the living room right. The quality of the experience stands out the most, supported by the overall polish and attention to detail ranging from the easy navigation to the drifting photo screensaver that kicks into gear to prevent screen burn-in on plasma displays.

NBC show 'Conviction' pilot debuts on iTunes, for free

NBC has released the pilot of it's new show Conviction at the iTunes Music Store for free. What a great way to build buzz for a show. I'm grabbing it not only because I like the idea, but because my wife is a Law & Order: SVU fan. We may have to hunker over the PowerBook to watch an episode. (Playlist: NBC show 'Conviction' pilot debuts on iTunes, for free.)

I'm waiting for the next thing to hit: when will a major or minor network create a series meant only for iTunes/Web/iPod? If I had my way and a bazillion dollars, I'd throw cash at Joss Whedon and the Firefly cast and continue the series online... who needs the approval of a network executive (especially a Fox exec) when you can deliver direct for free? I think a tight show could survive on episode payment schemes (maybe you sign up for a season). We'll have to see if it appears.

Highly Recommended: Michael Rubin's DroidMaker

I'm almost finished reading Michael Rubin's DroidMaker, a fascinating history of how, essentially, George Lucas is largely responsible for much of the editing and computer graphics technology we use and see at the movies. I talked with Michael at Macworld Expo a bit about writing the book; after having collected snippets of information over the years (he once worked at Lucasfilm), he decided to write the book partially at the urging of his wife, who wanted him to do something with all that stuff. The result is a fascinating account of computer geeks who invented their ways out of problems and paved the way for nonlinear editing, computer gaming, and Pixar's entirely 3D feature films.

My Final Cut Express HD review at Macworld.com

Macworld.com has just published my review of Final Cut Express HD. It's a good revision, though less compelling for people who already use Final Cut Express and don't plan on working in HDV. But I was happy to see that the iMovie support has improved:

Final Cut Express HD also features improved iMovie project import, which grabs transitions properly instead of stripping them out. However, it’s still a good idea to remove titles and effects from an iMovie HD project before opening it in Final Cut Express HD if you want to edit their settings - they import as normal clips with the text or effect rendered to the footage, not as separate editable elements.

My Seattle Times column on Apple-Intel

My Practical Mac column in the Seattle Times today takes an overview look at Apple's decision to shift to Intel processors: What's in store for Macs with Intel processor inside.

Now Available: iMovie HD & iDVD 5 QuickProject!

Kent the UPS driver just delivered a slim package containing my first copy of my latest book, Making a Movie in iMovie HD and iDVD 5: Visual QuickProject! Amazon doesn't have it in stock yet, but usually does within a week or so of when I receive my first author copy.

This version covers iMovie HD and iDVD 5, of course, and I think the printing quality is up a notch from the first edition, which turned out a little dark. Originally I was going to release the update to the Visual QuickStart Guide, but Peachpit thought it would be a better idea to do the QuickProject first and get it on the market; I think this is the first iMovie HD/iDVD 5 book to be released. The book is 144 pages and costs $12.99 (only $9.74 at Amazon right now!).

(Yes, that means I'm currently working on the update to the VQS; look for it to appear soon!)

My iMovie HD and iDVD 5 Reviews

My Macworld reviews of iMovie HD and iDVD 5 are now available on the Web.

Take Control of Buying a Digital Camera

A couple weeks ago, I praised caffeine because I was consuming so much espresso while simultaneously editing three Take Control ebooks. I'm happy to say that I've been able to get some sleep this last week (which is a change -- at one point I slept 8 hours, not consecutively, over a 72 hour period).

The fruits of that labor? On Friday we published Take Control of Buying a Digital Camera, by professional photographer (and now author) Laurence Chen. Although I've purchased a few digital cameras, I learned a lot editing this $5 title. For example, the photography specifications that used to make my eyes glaze over (especially the millimeter measurements of lenses and their zoom capacities) are now comprehensible! Larry reveals that buying a digital camera is a process, not a wild accumulation of marketing bullets. Here's the blurb about this excellent ebook:

Overwhelmed by choices when purchasing a digital camera? Turn to professional photographer Larry Chen for the practical advice you need to sort through the hundreds of digital cameras for sale.

Rather than bury you with arcane technical details or a myriad camera models, Larry first steps you through a process designed to help you determine how much you want to spend, what sort of pictures you're likely to take, and what aspects of using a camera are important to you. With that grounding, you're ready to learn about the different camera features, separated by those that are actually important and those that merely fill up feature checklists. The ebook even contains a camera comparison worksheet you can fill in while shopping. Additional sections give you pointers on how to read camera reviews (plus a list of the best review sites!), advice about evaluating picture quality, suggestions of where to buy your camera, the lowdown on accessories you might want, and tips on working with photos on your computer.

Includes a coupon worth $5 off any order at Small Dog Electronics, making this ebook free if you buy your camera from Small Dog!

My new iMovie 4/iDVD 4 book is now available!

Last week I received my contributor copies, and today I see that Amazon is now shipping my latest book iMovie 4 & iDVD 4 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide! I haven't seen it appear in bookstores yet, but it should either be on shelves now or will be shortly.

This edition adds nearly 100 pages of content and dozens of new tips, including full coverage of iDVD 4. The book retails for $20 (the same price as the last edition, I should mention), and Amazon currently has it 30% off at $14.

I encourage you to post comments at Amazon's page, and as always, please feel free to send me feedback.

See Me at Bellevue Square Apple Store

I'm giving a "Meet the Expert" presentation at the Apple Store Bellevue Square in Bellevue, WA, talking about iMovie 3, digital video, and other stuff related to my book iMovie 3 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide. Stop by at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday, July 19, and say hi!

iMovie 3 VQS Now Available!

My latest book, iMovie 3 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide is now shipping! This edition covers everything about editing video using iMovie 3 through the just-released iMovie 3.0.3 update (thanks to the confluence of Apple releasing the software the day before bluelines arrived at the publisher, resulting in a very hectic day of revisions).

However, note that Amazon.com lists the iMovie 3 VQS as having a shipping surcharge of $3.80 due to its "unusual size or weight". Considering that the book is 194 pages, this is clearly screwy. Other books, such as Tom Negrino's Keynote VQS show the same thing. I've let Peachpit know about this, and I have some friends at Amazon who are also looking into it. If you order a book and are actually charged, please email me so I can keep track of who this is affecting.

Update: I've just set up a new affiliate link with Peachpit to order the book using this link. If you order here, you don't have to worry about Amazon's snafu, I get a little bit of an affiliate commission, the book ships within 24 hours, and UPS shipping is free.

Update 2: Thanks to some speedy persistence by one of my friends at Amazon, we've discovered that Ingram (where Amazon gets its catalog info) listed the book as being 19.99 pounds. The problem should be cleared up within the next couple of days.

iMovie 3 VQS Blog

Final Cut Express: VQS is almost out the door, which means it's time to start focusing most of my time on writing iMovie 3: VQS. To celebrate, I've created an iMovie 3 VQS blog, where I'll post tips and info that I run across as I write, and links to resources that are mentioned in the final book.

I've created companion Web sites for each book I've written, but I'll admit that it's difficult to maintain them all. There comes a point after the book is done when I just can't look at that information anymore. Plus, it can be a hassle to go in and mark up HTML pages to reflect new information.

Frankly, this is exactly the type of task that blogs are good for: it will be much easier for me to link to software updates, third-party tools, or related information. I'm inspired by my ever-blogging officemate Glenn Fleishman and his blogging work for his Wireless Networking Starter Kit, such as his AirPort Blog.