ScreenCastsOnline iPod

240 - [Tr] Aperture 3 - Part 2 [Trailer - Available for Individual Purchase]

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:55:28 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] Special Note: As an experiment, this individual tutorial is available for purchase to non-Extra! members. Just visit the show notes over at screencastsonline.com for more information.

Part 2 of a mini Aperture 3 series of tutorials. Following on from looking at some of the basics in the last show, this week I take a look at some of the more advanced features of Aperture 3. In detail, the show covers:

Adjustments & Adjustment Presets
Brushing in Adjustments
Lifting & Stamping Adjustments
Faces
Places & GPS
Manual Location Placement
Embedded GPS Metadata
Using a GPS Track Log

Please note that if you're receiving this notification via the ScreenCastsOnline email notification service, the link inserted below is for access to the free version (or trailer) of this show. If you're a ScreenCastsOnline Extra Member you should receive the members version of the show via iTunes or directly from the ScreenCastsOnline Extra Members website.

239 - [FS] Aperture 3 - Part 1 [Free Show]

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:47:38 +0000

Aperture 3 is the latest version of Apples flagship photo management application.

Previous versions have been aimed squarely at the professional photographer, but with this new release, Aperture has been repositioned as a tool for both prosumers and professionals. One of the reasons many people have held off moving to Aperture was the inclusion of Faces and Places in iPhoto '09. Without them, Aperture 2 was not really a compelling upgrade for iPhoto users. All has been fixed now in Aperture 3 with the inclusion of both these features and over 200+ new improvements.

Aperture 3 now gives "Pro performance with iPhoto simplicity"!

As I've never covered Aperture before, I thought I'd best start from the ground up and cover the basic functionality in this weeks show. No prior knowledge of Aperture is assumed and I approach the subject as an iPhoto user considering moving over to Aperture. Next week I'll take a look at some of the new and enhanced features.

In this weeks show I cover:

Installation & Setup
Aperture 3 Introduction
Aperture Libraries
Importing Digital Media
Import Settings
Viewing Images in Aperture 3
Split View
Comparing Images
Rating Images
Browser View
Using Stacks
Viewer
Full Screen View
Using the Loupe
Using Metadata
Allocating Keywords
Metadata Views
Exporting & Merging Libraries
Exporting Versions
Exporting Masters
Exporting Projects

238 - [Tr] VoiceOver 3 [Trailer but free version available]

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:30:31 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] Although this is a trailer for the members show, the trailer contains instructions for downloading a special version of the show by signing up to the ScreenCastsOnline newsletter mailing list.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me, is the amount of functionality and utilities built right into OSX.

This week, I take a look at one of the Accessibility tools provided with every copy of Leopard and Snow Leopard - that's VoiceOver 3. Designed to assist partially sighted and blind Mac users, VoiceOver 3 is the latest version of the hugely impressive screen reader utility for the Mac. With VoiceOver, it's possible to have all the screen elements described and read back to you, using the built in speech technologies. Not to be confused with just Text to Speech, VoiceOver uses the concept of a VoiceOver cursor to highlight individual elements on screen (Text, menus, dock, icons, panels, dialog boxes, pretty much everything!) and have the contents of the VO cursor read back to you. With a multitude of keyboard commands, you're able to navigate the screen and interact with all the elements exposed with VoiceOver.

If you have a Mac laptop with a multitouch trackpad, you can use a new feature called "TrackPad Commander" to control VoiceOver using gestures.

As well as the core functionality, VoiceOver has been significantly enhanced to provide easy Web browsing using Safari with the addition of the new Web iTem Rotor.

Although VoiceOver is aimed primarily at visually impaired or blind users, this weeks show provides an overview of the VoiceOver technology for sighted people and web/app developers to foster an understanding of some of the features and promote the adoption of providing accessibility enhancements in third party apps. The full show covers:

VoiceOver Introduction
Using The VoiceOver Keys
VoiceOver Setup
Navigating using VoiceOver
TrackPad Commander
Web Browsing with VoiceOver
VoiceOver Utility

237 - [Tr] Mac Montage 12 [Trailer]

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:12:52 +0000

[Trailer for Extra! members show] This week I cover two brand new utilities and revisit a third.

Quix Bookmarklet - The bookmarklet to rule them all! If, like me, you're building up a lot of bookmarklets in your bookmarks bar, this amazing utility may be the answer to all your problems. Basically, Quiz is a single bookmarklet containing over 100+ built in commands, allowing to access all sorts of functionality from your browser. These commands support a wide range of functions including Basic commands, Social commands, WordPress, SEO, Webmaster, Quix, Analytics, URL Shortening even App and Mac Integration commands, all built into the single Quix bookmarklet. It's like LaunchBar for your browser. Even better still, Quix is extensible and allows you to create your own Quix commands, removing the need for all those individual bookmarklets. The icing on the cake though is that Quix works on your iPhone or iPad. If you're a MobileMe user, Quix will synchronise with your mobile device and give you all the Quix functionality whilst you're out and about!

In the show I show you how to install Quix and invoke it with a keyboard shortcut in Safari, demonstrate some of the commands and show you how to create a custom quiz command based on the "add to Boxee" bookmarklet from last weeks show. In addition, I take a look at Quix on the iPhone and demonstrate its use.

Notational Velocity - We've already looked at NV in a previous show but one question I keep getting is how to synchronise NV across Macs. The latest version of NV has just been released with support for syncing your notes via Simplenote - a free web based service. Simplenote also has a free iPhone app so it's now possible to sync you notes across Macs, to the web and to your iPhone or iPad - Amazing!

This part of the show demonstrates setting up a Simplenote account and synchronising with NV. I also show you how it works on the iPhone.

236 - [Tr] Boxee Beta [Trailer]

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:24:37 +0000

[Trailer for Extra! Members Show] Boxee is yet another media centre for the Mac!

But at it's latest release, Boxee Beta, it has matured into a feature packed application with a killer user interface. Boxee allows you to access your local media files in a very smart, easy to use, big screen interface. Integration with IMDB and other internet based databases allow your media files to be tagged with artwork and meta data automatically, no configuration required.

Boxee is highly integrated with Internet TV shows, with automatic access to internet based TV networks based on geographic location. In addition, using Boxee apps, you have access to a huge number of independent internet based TV services.

Want to know what your friends are watching and recommending? Boxee also has a social element that allows you to follow friends and see their recommendations in your Boxee queue. If it's available on the internet, you can watch it directly from their recommendation!

Surfing the web and spot a video you would like to see later on your big TV screen at home? Boxee has a neat, easily installable bookmarklet that installs in your browser. One click, and the video is added to your Boxee queue and will be waiting for you when you get home.

Of course, you don't need a big screen TV to use Boxee, it's a standard OSX application (and Windows and Linux) that will run happily on any Intel based Mac.

Add in the ability to control Boxee from your Apple remote, an OSX Desktop widget and the free Boxee iPhone app, and you've got a great way to manage and access your media and the latest internet based content.

For people outside the US, I also demonstrate using a free VPN service as a proof of concept for accessing various service.

The full show covers:

Getting a Boxee Account & Installation
Basic Boxee Operation
UI Overview
Boxee Feed
Queue
Movies
Boxee Popup Navigator
Playback Controls
TV Shows
Using a VPN
Hotspot Shield
Boxee Apps
Access to File System
Being Social with Boxee
Boxee Bookmarklet
Apple Remote & Snow Leopard Fix
Other Remote Options

235 - [FS] Path Finder 5 [Free Show]

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:57:34 +0000

[Full Free Show] Another highly requested application this week, and that's the award winning file browser & file management application for OSX, Path Finder 5

Packed with features, Path Finder 5 allows you to customise your view of the Mac's file system with ease, exposing tons of information is easily configurable modules. With Tabs and Bookmarks, it's possible to create shortcuts and groups of locations allowing you to quickly jump from folder to folder. Add in a fantastic dual pane option to see two completely independent locations at a time, and the time saving DropStack, Path Finder 5 really does give you all the control you need to manage your files.

As well as the core browsing and file management capabilities, Path Finder 5 also has lot's of built in utilities such as a fully featured text editor, an image editor, application launcher, the stuffit compression engine and much more.

The show covers:

Start
Installation
Path Finder User Interface
ToolBar
Customising Views
Smart Sorting
Coverflow
QuickLook Support
Dual Pane View
DropStack
SideBar
Bookmarks
Tabs
Path Navigator
Path Finder Modules
Path Finder Drawers
Using Path Finder 5
Using Filters
Using Selection
Application Launcher
Text Editor
Create Disk Images
Image Editor
Stuffit Compression Engine
Using as a Finder Replacement?
Wrap Up & Special Offer

The show also includes a time limited 20% discount off the normal retail price of Path Finder 5

234 - [Tr] Mac Maintenance [Trailer]

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:39:02 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] Luckily, most modern Macs need little or no regular maintenance. OSX is pretty much self maintaining, with automated scripts and an advanced file system, most people don't need to do anything to keep their Mac in tip top order.

Too good to be true?

Well not really, but human nature being what it is, it would be nice to understand what OSX is doing under the hood and perhaps keep an eye on how things are going. If the worst does happen and your Mac starts to slow down, or your favourite application starts to misbehave, what are the simple checks or processes you can undertake to try and fix things?

This week's show takes a look at both maintenance tasks and some simple troubleshooting tips to keep you Mac in tip top condition. This members only show covers:

Daily, Weekly & Monthly Maintenance Scripts
Checking Correct Operation of Scripts
Running Scripts Manually via Terminal
Third Party Maintenance Utilities
"Maintenance" & "Onyx"
Checking Permissions
Rebuilding Spotlight Caches
Speeding Up Mail
Monitoring S.M.A.R.T Drive Status
File System Check with Safe Boot & Safe Mode

233 - [Tr] Drobo, DroboShare & DroboPro [Trailer]

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:51:32 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] As we continue to collect and create more and more digital content, storage and storage management becomes more of an issue. Whilst it's easy enough to add additional external USB and FireWire drives to our Macs, the management of multiple volumes becomes more of a headache. And what about backup? All those precious digital photos and home movies on a single external drive?

One answer to developing a robust and extremely flexible storage solution is provided by Drobo.

Drobo is now a range of storage solutions which allow you to both protect your data and start to create a flexible "pool" of storage, allowing you to expand your storage by simply adding additional raw drives as and when required.

In this week's (unsponsored) members show, I take a look at three Drobo devices:

Drobo - The entry level 4 drive unit
DroboShare - The device that connects your Drobo to a LAN to create Networked Attached Storage (NAS)
DroboPro - An 8 drive unit with support for iSCSI for fast data transfer

232 - [Tr] Rapidweaver 4 and Stacks [Trailer]

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:15:20 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] It's been a while since I featured Rapidweaver, but it's still one of the most requested topics to cover. This week, I take a brief overview of Rapidweaver, followed by a section on a relatively new plugin for Rapidweaver - Stacks, finishing off with some very cool Stacks plugins from Joe Workman.

Rapidweaver is an extremely powerful web creation tool that allows you to create a full website without any HTML knowledge. Simply create blank pages within the application and enter your content. Rapidweaver comes with 10 pre-defined page types for different sorts of content. Add in the ability to completely change the design of your website with a single click, utilising one of 40 built in website themes, web creation has never been simpler. Complete flexibility is assured by the use of theme styles allowing you to tweak the website to your hearts desire.

One of the main strengths of Rapidweaver is the rapidly expanding ecosystem of Rapidweaver related tools, utilities and themes, all created by third party developers. No need to be constrained to the built in themes, as there are literally hundreds of additional themes available for free or for purchase. As well as themes, developers have also created Rapidweaver plugins enabling the creation of many different types of web pages. The second part of the show focuses on "Stacks" by YourHead Software. This is an amazing plugin that allows you to create a special page in Rapidweaver with full control over the layout of text, images and html in a flexible layout - a truly WYSIWYG approach to web page design.

The show also covers some third party stacks, specifically the Fancy Image Stacks by Joe Workman, just one set of stacks from Joe's comprehensive portfolio. These stacks allow you to create sophisticated images effects just using drag and drop, effects that previously would have needed code changes and installation of Javascript and other complex tools and utilities. In this show I demonstrate the installation of the Fancy Image stacks and how easy it is to configure an image lightbox, allowing thumbnail images to pop out of your website in a smart lightbox panel.

This week's show also contains discount codes for ScreenCastsOnline members for both the Stacks Plugin and the Fancy Image Stacks

231 - [FS] Mac OSX Primer for New Mac Users [Free Show]

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:37:05 +0000

New Mac for Christmas? Friends or relatives with new Macs needing a basic understanding of what the Mac is all about and how to learn the basics. This weeks free show is the result of many requests from new Mac users asking for a single consolidated episode that will teach them the basics, and give them a forward plan in getting to grips with the Mac.

Especially designed with switchers (or sliders) from the Windows environment, this free episode will give them enough information to quickly get to grips with the Mac and master some of the subtle and not so subtle differences between OSX and Windows. This week's episode covers:

Accessing System Preferences
Configuring Magic Mouse
Configuring Your TrackPad
Keyboard Layout
Keyboard Viewer Utility
OSX Desktop
Menu Bar
Menu Bar Icons
Spotlight
OSX Dock
Stacks
OSX Window Management
Using Removable Media
Installing & Un-Installing Applications
Moving Forward

As this is a free show, please feel free to distribute this episode to anyone you feel may benefit from it!

230 - [Tr] MacMontage 11 [Trailer]

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:03:04 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] The last show of 2009! Seeing as this show is going out over the Christmas period, I thought I'd give it a festive flavour with some hints and tips around getting the most out of your Mac for the holidays.

In detail, the show covers:

iTunes DJ - With the ever increasing numbers of iPhones and iPod touches in circulation, why not leverage the power of iTunes 9 and your wifi network to hand control of your Christmas or New year party playlist over to your guests! This section shows you how to set up iTunes DJ to allow guests to select, promote and demote songs from your iTunes playlist using the the free Apple Remote application directly from their hand held device.

Christmas Wallpaper & ScreenSaver - Why not spruce up your Mac with some gorgeous Christmas Wallpapers and a nice snowy screensaver. This section gives details of a superb resource of not just cool yule wallpapers, but also replacement icons and other such goodies. I show you how to install and configure some new wallpapers and screensavers with the addition of a fun time-lapse video of how one of the wallpapers was created.

PhotoBooth SlideShows with QuickTime Pro - One of the most popular applications, not just at Christmas time but all year round, is PhotoBooth. The source of endless hours of fun and probably the reason for a lot of Mac sales, PhotoBoot allows you to create literally hundreds of fun photos from the built in iSight camera on the Mac. But what to do with all those photos? Why not create a video montage of all the photos? THis section shows you how to create a standard Quicktime movie of all your photos at whatever speed you like. In addition, I show you how to use Garageband to add an audio track to your movie.

PhotoBooth SlideShows with iMovie 09 - OK, so spending £20 to get the Pro version of Quicktime 7 may not be for you, so this section shows you how to do the same using iMovie 09 only better (and for free if you've already got iLife!) Using the relatively unknown feature of Beat Markers in iMovie 09, it's a breeze to cut still photos or even movie clips to the beat of your musical accompaniment. I use the PhotoBooth photos to demo but this is a fantastically powerful technique to use in your normally movie making, especially if you fancy your hand at becoming a music video producer!

229 - [FS] AppleTV v3 & aTV Flash Update [Free Show]

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:35:39 +0000

Time for a quick update on the new version of the Apple TV with it's brand new slick interface. In this show, I also revisit aTV Flash, the suite of codecs and applications that make the Apple TV so much more useful by adding functionality and the ability to play virtually any video format.

Apple have recently re-vitalised the Apple TV by launching version 3.0.1 of the Apple TV software. As well as making the Apple TV seem more responsive, the new software includes a whole new UI with a horizontal menubar and direct access to both local and iTunes store content from the main menus. This new approach bodes well for the future as it's obvious how easily Apple could add additional features into the menu. Some new additions to Apple TV with access to thousands of Internet radio stations along with full support for the new iTunes Extra and LP formats for movies and music. With the iTunes Extra format you can get access to DVD extra material, right on your Apple TV. Of course, only if you buy the iTunes Extra versions from the iTunes store!

In the show I also include a section on pairing and using the Apple TV with Apples own free iPhone and iPod touch Remote application.

Now although the Apple TV is a super piece of kit, made even better by the release of Apple TV software, it still has some limitations. These limitations extend to its tight integration with the iTunes ecosystem, its inability to playback any form of media other than Quicktime encoded videos and the somewhat frustrating decision by Apple to limit its extendability by disabling the onboard USB port.

However, all these limitations can be overcome by the installation of aTV Flash by FireCore.

aTV Flash is a suite or third party applications and utilities that install on the Apple TV and allows you to take control. It installs most of the popular standard video and audio codecs, allowing your Apple TV to play most types of media files. It installs file transfer capabilities to allow you to transfer media files to your Apple TV using standard FTP or SFTP clients. It allows you to store and playback full DVD images of your DVD collection giving you access to all the submenus and extras found on most DVDs. It installs a number of external media browsers and players that help you organise and play your media collection, with seamless integration with the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and TVRage, retrieving movie and TV information along with movie posters. It allows you virtually unlimited expandability by enabling the USB port and allowing you to connect and access external USB drives to store huge media collections. It even allows you to connect a USB Keyboard and Mouse. As well as these additional media related functions, ATVFlash also installs a fully functional, Safari based Internet browser to allow you to browse the Internet from your couch on your HDTV. You can even install additional OSX Applications on your AppleTV

The really cool part though is that all these applications and utilities are installed automatically by the aTV Flash menu driven installer. You don't need to access the command line and type convoluted Unix commands, in fact, no technical experience is required at all. Just download the aTV Flash package to your Mac or PC, insert a spare USB stick and run the package to create a bootable USB drive (all automatically). Insert the USB drive into your AppleTV and reboot and that's it! Once your upgraded AppleTV is up and running, a simple menu selection to enable the USB port and your done.

This weeks show revisits aTV Flash to look at some of the new features and demonstrate its tight integration with the new Apple TV menu system. For full installation instructions and more in depth operating instructions, checkout show SCO0199.

228 - [Tr] Readability, InstaPaper & Notational Velocity [Trailer]

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:29:21 +0000

[Trailer for full show] Some tips this week to make your web browsing more pleasurable and effective, along with a great application for creating and retrieving text notes.

The first part of the show includes a couple of great bookmarklets which allow you to remove all distracting ads and extraneous content from web pages, so you can just focus on the content.

The first is Readability - a very smart bookmarklet that allows you to reformat a web page to your liking with a single click of a button. Also includes options to print or email the contents of the selected web page in a clean, easy to read format.

The second is AutoScroll - once you have your cleanly formatted web page, why not let AutoScroll control the scrolling of the page automatically, allowing you to kick back and just read!

These first two bookmarklets are excellent if you have time to read long articles when you find them. More often than not, we don't have the time to read them there and then. That's when we need InstaPaper!

InstaPaper is a free web service that allows you to mark web pages to read later, either on or offline. Similar to Readability, it also strips out all the distractions and provides you with a clean copy of the information that matters - the content of the webpage itself. Add in the ability to download your unread web articles in printable, kindle or ePub format, along with the availability of both a free and pay for iPhone application for offline reading, InstaPaper is an indispensable tool.

The last part of the show is all about Notational Velocity, a deceptively simple application for creating and searching textual notes. Built for mouse-less interaction and with its modeless operation, this application is screamingly fast at searching for existing notes and makes creating notes a breeze. All notes are stored in either a datafile (optional compression and encryption) or as standard text files for spotlight indexing. With full support for tagging and full text formatting, Notational Velocity is a great tool to keep on hand for all those little bits of information you need instant access to.

227 - [FS] Twitter Changes & Tweetie 2.1 for iPhone [Free Show]

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:15:10 +0000

Twitter - Word of the year 2009!

Twitter usage seems to be growing exponentially and is now considered a crucial form of communication by many individuals and organisations. Until recently, the main focus of the Twitter developers has been to scale the service and make it more reliable. Based on it's current performance, they seem to have cracked these particular issues.

So now, the focus has shifted to increasing functionality with the recent addition of two significant changes to the Twitter platform, Twitter Lists and a new ReTweet Mechanism.

This week's show is is two parts:

The first part explores and explains the new Twitter features using the hugely improved Twitter Web interface.

The second part features the latest version of the best iPhone Twitter client available (well, in my humble opinion) and that's Tweetie 2.1. Tweetie 2.1 for the iPhone has been re-written to take advantage of the new Twitter features and the show exposes and explains how to access and make the best use of them.

In detail, the show covers:

Twitter Lists
New Retweet Mechanism
Tweetie 2.1
Setting up your Twitter account
Timeline Screen Icons
Reading & Responding
HashTag Support
Translation Support
Replying & Managing
Sending from Multiple Accounts
ReTweeting
Gap Indicator Zone
Creating and Sending Tweets
Sending Attachments
Creating Hashtags & Links
Settings, Profiles & Lists
Accessing Your Profile
Accessing & Managing Your Lists
Accessing Favourites
Wrap Up

226 - [Tr] Mac mini Server & Snow Leopard Server [Trailer]

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:28:23 +0000

[Trailer for Extra Members Show] This week, I take a look at a new edition to the Mac family - The new Mac mini Server with Snow Leopard Server.

Apple surprised everyone with the recent introduction of a refreshed Mac mini, optimised for duties as a full blown server[. With an increase to 500GB disk capacity, the addition of a second 500GB drive and the removal of the superdrive, the Mac mini turns out to be a surprisingly fully featured server platform, intended for small businesses or workgroups. Along with the hardware changes, Apple also now supplies a full copy of the latest Snow Leopard Server with unlimited client licences! All for just $999 or £799 - amazing value!

But is the Mac mini Server for you? What advantages does Snow Leopard Server bring over the desktop version of Snow Leopard.

Will in this overview show I reveal all! As well as some background information, I run through a fairly standard installation and explore some of the server tools and features of Snow Leopard Server.

The full 40 minute show covers:

The Physical Differences Between The Mac Mini Range
Comparative Server Supporting Up To 100 Users
Snow Leopard Server For Home Use?
Installation Options
Installing Server Admin Tools On An Administrative Computer
Remote Server Installation Via Server Admin Utility
Drive Configuration Considerations
Server Utilities Overview
Server Admin
Server Monitor
Server Preferences
Web Technologies Quick Peek

Hopefully by the end of the show, you'll have a full appreciation of the capabilities of the new Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server.

225 - [FS] LaunchBar 5 - Part 2 [Free Show]

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:26:01 +0000

Part 2 of the extremely well received LaunchBar 5 series or shows.

This second and final part, looks at some additional facilities of LaunchBar 5 and examines how it can enhance your day to day productivity. Included in this week's show are sections on:

Instant Send
Clipboard History & ClipMerge
iCal Integration
iTunes Integration
Searching in SpotLight
Using the Calculator
The LaunchBar Index
Creating a Search Template

224 - [Tr] Solid State Drives (SSD) and OptiBay [Trailer]

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:26:32 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] It's well established that Solid State Drives offer incredible performance over traditional hard drives. Cool running and with no moving parts, an SSD drive can significantly boost any computers performance, turning your previously adequate laptop or desktop machine into a screaming powerhouse. Add in silent running, low heat generation and increased reliability, SSDs can make an enormous difference to your day to day computing experience.

SSDs are now becoming mainstream with major manufacturers and vendors supplying SSDs in standard 2.5" drive enclosures for simple installation in to a variety of machines. Apple has been installing SSDs in the MAcBook Air since its launch and now has build to order SSD options for the MacBook Pro.

The performance benefits of SSDs do come at a price, however. The higher capacity SSDs are expensive with 256GB SSDS commanding a price of $600 to $800 but these prices will fall significantly over the next year or two.

This weeks show introduces you to SSDs and explores several options on how you could utilise an SSD in your laptop, cost effectively.

If you can afford the higher capacity SSDs, great, but I take a look at how you might utilise a smaller, and consequently cheaper, SSD to gain performance increases, yet enable you to break free from the constraints of a lower capacity drive.

In summary, this weeks Extra members show covers:

Preparing to replace your Hard Drive
Backing up to a Voyager Q Docking Station
Replacing a SATA drive with an SSD Drive in a MacBook Pro
Installing an SSD Drive in a Mac Pro with MaxConnect
Removing your Optical Drive
Adding a second Drive to a Laptop with MCE Optibay
Moving Your Home Directory to a secondary Drive

This weeks show includes live video taking you through all the stages of installing an SSD drive and replacing your MacBook Pro optical drive with an MCETech Optibay to add a second drive to your laptop.

The technique illustrated in this weeks show is to replace your standard high capacity standard drive with a smaller SSD drive to act as a fast boot drive. Using the OptiBay, it's possible to then remove your usually under utilised optical drive, and re-install your standard drive as a secondary drive for your data. The show also includes detailed instructions for moving your Home directory to the secondary drive, so space is not a problem.

The MCE OptiBay also allows you to use standard drives for various RAID options, or booting multiple operating systems as discussed in the show.

223 - [FS] LaunchBar 5 - Part 1 [Free Show]

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:02:07 +0000

[Full Free Show] At last! LaunchBar 5 is at full release status and I've been able to a show about it! Well not just one show, I've got so much to cover, I've had to split it across two shows (at least). The developers of LaunchBar 5 are supporting ScreenCastsOnline by sponsoring the free version of this weeks show.

It's no secret that LaunchBar has been one of my favourite applications, probably from since I first started on the Mac. At it's core, LaunchBar is an application launcher but to call it just an application launcher does it a disservice. Objective Developments, the developers of LaunchBar have been increasing the functionality with each release, adding not just cool but stunningly useful features. The bottom line is that the application very quickly becomes an indispensable tool once you've started using it for even just a few hours.

LaunchBar 5 creates an index of all the "stuff" on your Mac - Applications, files, folders, documents, preference panes, web bookmarks, Web history, your iTunes library, your address book, your iPhoto library and much more. It allows you to create abbreviations to search and access all this "stuff" without moving your hands from the keyboard, making it so much more efficient that picking up your mouse and clicking all over the screen. Add in some extra features such as the built in actions and my favourite - integration with webs services and web search templates, you'll wonder how you ever did without it

Although I've explored LaunchBar before in previous shows, for this show I thought I'd start from scratch, so you don't need to dig out the old shows.

In this week's show I cover:

Introduction & Installation
Initial Configuration
LaunchBar 5 Basics
Launching Applications
Instant Open
Opening Recent Documents
Using Address Book Data in LB5
Skype Integration
Working with Files in LB5
Accessing Websites via LB5
Using Web Search Templates
Searching and Accessing Bookmarks & Web History

The next free show will take a look at some of the other new features of LaunchBar 5

222 - [Tr] MacMontage 10 [Trailer]

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:47:12 +0000

[Trailer for Extra Members Show] Time for a MacMontage show!

This week it's a mixture of a few hacks and mods, a great free Safari plugin in and a "behind the scenes" glimpse of how we handle email here at ScreenCastsOnline.

In detail. the show covers:

Copying and Pasting Email Addresses - Snow Leopard has changed the default behaviour so I point to a terminal command that set things back the way they should be!

Modifying Grid View in iTunes 9 - Lots of complaints about the white background on the Grid view in the latest version of iTunes. How to reset it to a darker colour.

Hidden Keyboard Shortcuts - Some pretty neat keyboard shortcuts to allow you to control your audio plus access some system preference panes directly

ClickTo Flash - At last, a way to tame the beast that is Flash! A free Safari plugin that allows you to control what Flash content is displayed as you browse the interwebs. Cut down the distractions, stop your CPU from revving up and keep the heat down on your laptop. This great plugin also allows you control over YouTube, letting you default to H.264 formatted content and even download YouTube videos to your Mac in H.264 format for direct use in iTunes.

Email Tools and Processes - This section covers how I've adapted my email workflow to allow for the sharing of the ScreenCastsOnline mailbox with Mrs Don, and demonstrates how I pass emails on for further processing using a combination of automated and manual rules processing. I also include a rather smart utility from eCamm which allows you to have multiple badges on your email dock icon to keep track of the contents of multiple mailboxes - Dockstar. There's even a 35% discount coupon included!

221 - [FS] Things for iPhone & iPod Touch [Free Show]

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:52:35 +0100

The final part of Things, this time, Things for iPhone and iPod touch.

Things is an outstanding task management application from Cultured Code. In previous shows I've taken a look at Things for the Mac but in this weeks show, I take a look at the iPhone application.

Although Things for the iPhone has almost all the features of Things for the Mac, and will fully synchronise with its Mac counterpart, it's a fully featured task management application in its own right, capable of running completely independently.

In this weeks show, I explore the features of the application and the mobile interface. I also take a look at synchronising Things for iPhone with Things for Mac.

220 - [Tr] Snow Leopard Overview #4 [Trailer]

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:16:32 +0100

[Trailer for Extra Members Show] Following on from my previous Snow Leopard overview shows, I've kept the best for last!

As promised, this week, I finally get around to looking at Services in Snow Leopard, a brand new implemenation and a technology you can take advantage of immediately. As well as the new context sensitive architecture that Apple have introduced, they've also made services both supremely useful yet easy to master by anybody. No longer requiring programming skills, anyone can muster up a service to speed up their workflow via Automator.

In this weeks show I cover:

◦ Introduction to Services
◦ Creating & Customising Services
◦ Four sample services from scratch
◦ Movie - Open in Quicktime 7
◦ Images - Create PDF Book
◦ Text - Append Text to TextEdit
◦ Dropbox - Copy to Public Folder
◦ Resources on the Web
◦ Service Workflow Files - Locations

219 - [FS] Things #2 [Free Show]

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:39:30 +0100

[Full Free Show] Part two of Things - the multi award winning task management application from Cultured Code

This week I take a look at some of the slightly more advanced features of Things, allowing you to take full advantage of its power in your workflow. The show covers:

Using Projects in Things
Delegating To Dos
Synchronisation with iCal
Using Things on Multiple Macs
Integration with LaunchBar

218 - [Tr] Snow Leopard Overview #3 [Trailer]

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:28:38 +0100

[Trailer for Extra Members Show] Well this was going to be the final Snow Leopard overview show but if I included everything I wanted to cover it would be an hour long and then still rushed!

So I decided to do a slightly shorter show this week, leaving the way clear for a show all about Services and Automator in two weeks. This week's show focusses mainly on the new Text engine built into Snow Leopard. Some of the features are obvious, but some not so obvious! I also take a look at some other features such as Wake On Demand, location aware time zones and getting stuff out of the trash.

In detail, the chapters for this week are:

Enhanced Text Engine
Text & Symbol Substitution
Spelling Autocorrection
Word Break
Smart Quotes
Smart Copy/Paste
Smart Dashes
Smart Links
Data Detectors
Text Transformations & Speech
Wake On Demand
Displaying Dates
Location Aware Time Zones
Put Back From Trash

217 - [FS] Things - Task Management for the Mac [Free Show]

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:46:11 +0100

[Full Free Show] This week, the show features the multi award winning task management application from Cultured Code - Things

I've had lots of requests to cover Things for a while now, but I've always felt it needed a few tweaks on the integration side, especially due to my personal reliance on using both a task management application along with the standard Apple email application. Thankfully, with the release of Things 1.2, the wait was over as not only was superb email integration delivered but some other unexpected features as well!

As there is so much to cover, I've split the Things tutorial into two parts, the second part to be published in two weeks time.

This week, it's part one and I cover:

Creating To Do Items
Using Tags
Creating Hierarchical Tags
Updating Notes using Drag & Drop
Quick Entry Panel & AutoFill
Assigning Due Dates and Repeating To Dos
Organising To Do Items using Lists
Using the Today List
Using the Scheduled List
Using the Someday List
Creating and managing Projects
Areas of Responsibilities

The free version of this week's show is sponsored by Cultured Code, the developers of Things, and they have kindly offered a time limited discount of 20% off the usual price of Things - just use the coupon code SCOTHINGS but be aware, this is only valid up to the 15th October 2009

216 - [Tr] Snow Leopard Overview #2 [Trailer]

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:07:41 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! Members Show] So you've had Snow Leopard for three weeks or so. Have you found all the subtle differences yet?

No, neither have I!

But I have found quite a few, all of which go towards making Snow Leopard a much improved OS.

In part 2 of the Snow Leopard overview series, I explore and expose some of the new (and some not so new) features that you may not yet have discovered.

This week's show includes:

QuickTime X- The new and improved QuickTime X player is built on the brand new QuickTime architecture launched with Snow Leopard. I take you through the new interface along with a special section on screen recording and sharing. I also show you how to retro install QuickTime 7 if you find you need some of the more advanced features.
Screen Sharing - Nothing new here you may think, but Apple have significantly enhanced the capabilities of screen sharing and I show you how.
Menu Bar Icons - A little tip to allow you to get more information from your Menu bar icons
Keyboard Viewer - Well the main difference is that it's resizable but when researching this section I stumbled across some functionality I'd not realised existed. A tremendous boon to help you with special and international characters. This isn't a Snow Leopard feature, it was in leopard all along and I didn't know it!
This is just the first of an occasional series of Snow Leopard related shows to illustrate the power of this brand new operating system.
Image Capture - I mentioned in a previous show that Snow Leopard would allow you to control the default actions of what applications (or none) load when different devices are plugged in. What I didn't realise was that, as well as this welcome addition to image capture, you can also share your devices across the network and access them from remote machines.
32bit Troubleshooting - Some hints and tips if the System Preferences pane restarts are driving you to distraction plus how to get around some issues with 32bit Safari plugins.

So lot's to cover in this weeks show and that's still not the end of it. Look out for the third part of the overview series in a few weeks time.

215 - [FS] iTunes 9 [Free Show]

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:44:01 +0100

A short break from Snow leopard this week with a timely show all about the brand new iTunes 9 and iTunes store.

Only launched the day before this show was recorded, this show gives you a peek at most of the new features in both iTunes 9, the new iTunes store and the updated 3.1 OS for the iPhone and iPod Touch. In this week's show I cover:

iTunes 9 Update
Changes to the List View
Managing your iPhone Apps
Home Sharing
iTunes Store
New LP and iTunes Extra Formats
Genius Mixes
Synchronisation Changes

..and more

214 - [Tr] Snow Leopard Overview #1 [Trailer]

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:05:27 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! Members Only Show] Ok, so you've installed Snow Leopard, now what!

On the face of it, the user interface to Snow Leopard doesn't really look much different from the original Leopard OS, save for a nice new desktop wallpaper. Most of the changes to Snow Leopard are in its underlying architecture, with parts being re-written and brand new technologies introduced to act as springboards for innovative new applications.

But if you look closely, there are a host of subtle changes to the user interface in the new operating system, all designed to improve on the original Leopard and enhance your Mac experience. This show takes you through some of the changes and demonstrates how they can help you be more efficient and productive.

This week's show includes:

32-bit vs 64-bit - A brief explanation of the difference and why you shouldn't worry that your MAc is not booting a 64-bit kernel just yet.
Improved Finder - Completely re-written in Cocoa and to take advantage of 64-bit and Grand central dispatch, the Finder now has a new lease of life with sparkling performance. Together with a few whistles and bells to boot.
Changes to the Dock & Stacks - Some nice polish applied in these areas with some subtle but necessary changes to Stacks
Exposé - Worth the price of the upgrade alone! Exposé has had a major rework turning it from a cool piece of technology to demo your Mac, to a really use productivity tool. The show demonstrates the many ways of using the new supercharged version of Exposé including:

Standard Exposé
Exposé in the Dock
Exposé via the Application Switcher
Dragging & Dropping via Exposé
Exposé & Spaces

This is just the first of an occasional series of Snow Leopard related shows to illustrate the power of this brand new operating system.

As an extra on this weeks show, there is also a short segment for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! announcing and demonstrating the availability of a brand new plugin for Plex. This new plugin allows you to access all your members content in HD from right within Plex. Just update the plugin, enter your username and password and you'll be able to stream all the Members shows in HD or ED. A big thank you to the Plex developers for creating this plugin, especially James Clarke - I owe you one James!

213 - [FS] Snow Leopard Prep & Installation [Free Show]

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:34:12 +0100

[Free Show] Well, it's finally here!

Snow Leopard, the long awaited update to Leopard has finally been released by Apple. And if I say so myself, this show has impeccable timing, being published on the same day of Snow Leopards release - no mean feat!

With some significant re-engineering "under the hood" and a raft of subtle interface and usability enhancements, Snow Leopard is the culmination of several years work to make OSX the most stable and efficient operating system available. Add in the extremely low price of both the single and family pack upgrades, Snow Leopard becomes a "no brainer" for all Intel mac users.

In this week's show, I take you through some of the common tasks required before upgrading to Snow Leopard, along with some things to take into consideration before taking the plunge. I identify some free applications, utilities and services to help you with your housekeeping and backups before committing to the upgrade.

As well as the preparation, the show also takes you step by step through the standard upgrade installation, with some special hints and tips on customising your upgrade.

The Snow Leopard installation has been greatly simplified since previous installations but at the expense of some of the more advanced options such as Erase and Install. Never fear, as this show also explains exactly how to go about a full Erase and Install with the option of migrating your data and applications from backups.

Now that Snow Leopard is released, I'll be taking a look at some of the new features in the next few weeks.

212 - [Tr] MacMontage 09 [Trailer]

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:35:35 +0100

[Trailer for Members Show] It's been a while but it's time for another Extra! members MacMontage show - a collection of really handy but unrelated hints and tips that usually don't warrant a show on their own.

This week, I cover four main areas:

Removing Duplicates in iPhoto - Following on from last week, as promised, I take a look at a relatively inexpensive utility that allows you to purge your iPhoto library of duplicate photos. I explore the most effective methods of using Duplicate Annihilator and importantly, cover how to safeguard against finding false duplicates, along with some suggestions for double checking your results.

QuickLook Plugins - Introduced in Leopard, QuickLook allows you to see the contents of all sorts of files directly from the Finder, just by tapping the space bar. Apple have made the QuickLook architecture extensible allowing third party developers to create custom QuickLook plugins. In this section, I take a look at a great web resource for Quicklook Plugins, along with how to install and configure them. I also cover the installation of three free sample Quicklook plugins - BetterZIP, Photoshop Brushes and Suspicious Packages.

The Zoom Button in OS X - The source of frustration for many Mac users especially switchers from Windows. What on earth does the "Zoom Button" actually do? Why doesn't it maximize the screen when that's all that I want it to do! The reasons behind the usual behaviour of the Zoom button are explained in this section along with a handy little tip on how to resize the iTunes window without it turning into a mini player - don't you hate it when that happens! In addition, if you really hate the standard behaviour of the Zoom button, I show you how to install a great free utility that changes the the default behaviour of the Zoom button to a "Windows like" maximise button.

Security "On the road" - In this fourth and final section, I take a look at some of the considerations you need to bare in mind when traveling with your laptop. I look at some easy tips on making your laptop more secure, tips which can also be applied to desktop machines too. You don't have to follow all the suggestions but the section covers most of the basics to make your machine more secure when travelling.

211 - [FS] Managing Multiple Macs - Part 3 [Full Show]

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:14:46 +0100

[Full Free Show] The third and final part of the mini series on "Managing Multiple Macs" (which may be continued at a later date!)

This week, I take at look at how I manage organising and moving my digital images and videos between my laptop and desktop Mac.

As well as the multitude of applications available to use to work on our digital assets, we are faced with an ever expanding number of gadgets and gizmos that enable us to create images and video too. So as well as how to move your digital images and video around, I also take a look at "Cameras" - a simple yet ingenious preference pane application that allows you to configure exactly what happens when you plug your digital devices into your Mac, albeit open iPhoto, Aperture, iMovie, automatically download or even, just do nothing at all.

I also take a look at using external hard drives as an option to swap iPhoto libraries between machines, as well as a third party application called "iPhoto Library Manager". This brilliant application allows you to copy images between separate iPhoto libraries using simple drag and drop, as well as allowing you to merge complete iPhoto libraries.

To finish off, there's even a short section on moving Aperture projects between machines.

210 - [Tr] Managing Multiple Macs - Part 2 [Trailer]

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:40:29 +0100

[Trailer for Members Show]Time to look at my particular solution for managing multiple iTunes libraries across many Macs. My own issue was all to do with syncing my podcasts whilst out on the road. Yes, you can download individual podcasts wirelessly to your iPhone or iPod touch, but I'd much rather have the podcasts pushed to my local device via subscriptions.

So the only option was to start syncing my iPhone with my laptop rather than my desktop Mac. That way, I could always have up to the date podcasts ready to sync no matter where I was. The only problem then is how to manage multiple iTunes libraries.

What if I ripped some music on my laptop, how to get that across to the desktop? What if I bought some tunes from Amazon on my desktop but I wanted them on my iPhone? What about all my playcounts and ratings, how to synchronise them between multiple machines.

Well in this show, I demonstrate how to accomplish all this and more using a third party application called SuperSync.

As an added bonus, you can also use Supersync to set up a web server to access all your music via a web browser or your iPhone either locally or via the Internet. Know you will have to set up "Port Forwarding" on your local network to get this to work, but I also demonstrate how to set that up in the show too!

209 - [FS] Managing Multiple Macs - Part 1 [Full Show]

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:56:12 +0100

[Full Free Show] One of the problems that viewers have with ScreenCastsOnline is that I cover so much stuff, it's sometimes difficult to either know where to start, or how to gather all the information together under a single subject. This week's show is an experiment to address this by pulling together mainly information I've published before, with some new information thrown into the mix.

The genesis of the show is that I've received many requests on "How to effectively manage multiple Macs" and whilst preparing for the show, I realised that many of the areas have already been addressed, but in separate shows. So this week, I've tried to pull all the information together in a two part episode, discussing how I manage my multiple Mac setup and the reasons why I use the tools and techniques that I do. The show is heavily littered with references to previous shows, so if you want to go back and receive more in depth information on any of the tools and techniques, you can!

In this weeks show, I cover:

Synchronising settings with MobileMe
Using iDisk
MobileMe iDisk Application
Back To My Mac
Managing EMail
Sharing Documents using DropBox
Sharing information using EverNote
Replicating Files & Folders using ChronoSync

Next week, I'll finish off by examining various strategies for managing multiple iPhoto, Aperture and iTunes libraries, along with some workflow suggestions to keep everything in sync.

208 - [Tr] iWeb 09 Update [Trailer]

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:44:38 +0100

[Trailer for Members Show] Back at last!

This week as promised, I take a look at some of the new features of iWeb 09. Included as part of iLife 09, iWeb has had some pretty interesting updates to address some of the failings of the earlier versions. You can now change themes on the fly on a page by page basis, manage multiple websites from within iWeb 09 itself, publish directly to external FTP sites from iWeb and even just publish changes to the site.

Add in a range of simple to use widgets to enable drag and drop support for many different types of information, iWeb seems to have come of age at this release.

As well as looking at the general improvements of iWeb, I also take you through the configuration of the travel website I created for my recent MacMania trip. As well as being a place to access my MobileMe galleries, I used a number or third party utilities to enhance the website and allow me to update the website with images, audio and location data directly from my iPhone. These applications were Tumblr and AudioBoo, and I've included details on how I integrated them using the RSS widget and a look at the free iPhone applications.

206 - [Tr] Mac OS X Utilities Folder #1 [Trailer]

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:51:20 +0100

[Trailer for Members Show] This week, a whole folder of utilities! Yes, and all free!

Following on from a request for suggestions for topics for the Mac Montage shows, Steve Housley, a regular ScreenCastsOnline viewer, came up with a brilliant idea.

"How about starting at the top of the Utilities folder?"

Brilliant!

Hidden away within the Mac OS X Applications folder is a folder called "Utilities", installed as part of a standard 10.5 installation. In this folder are 24 free utilities covering many different aspects of using your Mac. So this week, I'll be covering the first 12 utilities, with the final 12 in next weeks show.

This first part covers:

Activity Monitor
Bluetooth File Exchange
Boot Camp Assistant
ColorSync Utility
Console
DigitalColor Meter
Directory Utility
Directory
Disk Utility
Grab

Now some of the utilities I've covered before, and some, both you and I will never use. Where I have covered them before, I've included references to the other shows, and where the utilities are fairly obscure, at least you'll learn what they are all about and their intended usage!

204 - [Tr] Mac Remote Controller Apps [Trailer]

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:09:42 +0100

[Trailer for Members Show] Part 3 of the "Using Your Mac mini as a Media Centre" series this week and it's time to take a look at how to control your Mac media centre.

Sure, you can use an Apple Remote but that's really only useful for navigating full screen applications such as FrontRow or Plex. A full size keyboard and mouse? In the living room? Sure, you can use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse but they can be a bit cumbersome to use and they don't really fit into the domestic environment.

How about using your iPod Touch or iPhone to take full control of your Mac media centre?

This week's show is all about setting up your mac media centre to run independently of a keyboard mouse by taking full control of your Mac using a hand held device over Wifi. The full show covers:

Disabling "Bluetooth Setup Assistant"
Pairing Apple Remotes
Setting up an ad-hoc "Computer to Computer" Wifi network
Three iPod Touch/iPhone Remote Controller Applications
Rowmote
Rowmote Pro
Snatch
Using Snatch as a dedicated controller for Plex

202 - [Tr] MacMontage 08 [Trailer]

Fri, 29 May 2009 17:44:36 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! Members Show] Time for another MacMontage show!

This week I cover four separate hints and tips:

Photo Location Information Updates: Apple have introduced some handy new features to help you assign location information from photos taken with the iPhone across to photos taken with a normal "Non-GPS" enabled camera. This tip shows you what is involved and also takes a look at a simpler way to move a locations pin to provide more accurate placement on your iPhoto maps.

Spurious Zooming on MacBooks: Whilst I love the multi-touch gestures on the new unibody MacBooks, there is one that drives me to distraction, and that's zooming in Safari and Mail. This only seems to affect those of us used to the older MackBooks with the single button, where we used one hand for clicking the button and the other for moving the mouse. It's really hard to relearn not to use button finger and on the new MacBooks, this leads to inadvertent zooming in Safari and Mail. Very annoying. Well as Apple don't provide a way to turn this off, one enterprising coder decided to create an InputManager to disable this function. This tip shows you how to install this InputManager and retain your sanity!

Creating Symbolic Links with Automator: I've looked at this technique before of using DropBox to syncronise application data using symbolic links. One of my favourite applications has now been enabled to use this technique, and that's TextExpander. Rather than show you the typicalway of implementing this, I stumbled upon some third party Automator actions that remove the need for typing long commands into terminal to set this up.

Monitoring Disk Usage: This segment features two of my favourite utilities for seeing just where all that precious disk space has gone - GrandPerspective and OmniDiskSweeper. Both utilities do the same job of showing you which files and folders are taking up the most space on your drive, but each has a different approach on how the data is presented. I take you through both utilities and describe how I use each one.

200 - [Tr] Behind The Scenes [Trailer]

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:32:56 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! members Show] Can you believe it! The 200th show!

To mark this special occasion, this week's show is slightly different from the usual in that it takes you (by popular request), behind the scenes at ScreenCastsOnline. Starting off with a brief video tour of my current setup, I then take you through all the various processes from planning and scripting, to recording and editing, finishing off with the host of updates I do to the RSS feeds and websites.

Whilst you may not use most of these processes and techniques in your day to day activities, I hope the show will give you a better insight into how the show comes together each week!

198 - [Tr] Mac mini Media Centre - Part 1 [Trailer]

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:54:55 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! members Show] Finally, finally, Apple have released an updated Mac mini ideally suited to act as a Mac Media Centre. The previous Mac minis were underpowered in both the processor and graphics departments, making them struggle playing anything over and above standard definition video.

The quiet running and small form factor makes the Mac mini ideally suited to living beneath your TV, and now with its powerful processor and enhanced graphics, the Mac mini is now positioned to be the centre of your digital media experience.

This weeks show is the first of a mini series of shows looking at how to utilise the Mac mini as a Mac Media Centre. As there is so much to cover, I'll start the series from the basics looking at the hardware considerations, how the Mac mini is connected to your TV and audio systems, and looking at using FrontRow, the application within Leopard specifically designed to allow you to control your media using an Apple remote.

I also take a look at using iTunes, moving your iTunes library to an external drive and sharing your external iTunes and iPhoto libraries for use with FrontRow.

To finish off, I look at installing, configuring and using Sapphire - a free plugin for FrontRow that allows you to use FrontRow to manage your external media files. As well as allowing you to use the familiar FrontRow interface, Sapphire has intergration with online services such as IMDB and TVRage to seamlessly retrieve the metadata for your media files.

In future weeks, I'll be taking a look at additional third party utilities and viewers, along with the various options and utilities for controlling your Mac Media Centre using the iPhone or iPod Touch.

196 - [Tr] Safari 4 Beta [Trailer]

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:30:29 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! members Show] How did I forget to do a show about Safari 4 Beta?

Although it's been out for a couple of months, I bet there are still some features in Apples latest version of its flagship browser that most people don't know about, so this week's show sets out to put things straight. Unusually for a beta product, Safari 4 is a solid application and one that Apple feels comfortable about enough to encourage most people to download and try out for themselves. If you do get into problems or if you just want to go back to the old browser, they've included an uninstaller package in the disk image file to let you revert pretty seamlessly. Not that I think you'll need to!

This week's show covers:

Safari 4 Download and Installation
Top Sites
Coverflow in History
Coverflow in BookMarks
Tabbed Browsing
Smart Address Fields & Google Search
Full Page & Text Zooming
Developer Tools
Safari Hacks

194 - [Tr] Numbers ’09 Update [Trailer]

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:18:41 +0100

[Trailer for Extra! Members only show] Another great update to iWork 09 and that's the brand new version of Numbers, Apples very own spreadsheet. Following on from an extremely impressive debut with Numbers 08, Apple has made some significant improvements to the new version of Numbers, making it a viable alternative to Excel for most people.

In this weeks show, I focus in on some of the new and improved features of Numbers '09, along with some not so new features thrown in for good measure. The full Extra! members show covers:

In Cell Editing
Absolute and Relative Cell References
Headers & Cell Names
Reorganising Data
Categories in Numbers
Conditional Formatting
Linking Charts & Excel Integration

As I mention in the show, I don't think I've needed to open Excel once since installing this latest version, Apple have done a tremendous job on improving an already great product.

192 - [Tr] MacMontage 07 [Trailer]

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:26:39 +0000

[Trailer for Extra! Members only show] Time for another Mac Montage this week!

A fairly mixed bag with some simple and some complex hints and tips.

Renaming Files In situ
Accessing Bento via Multiple Machines
Step 1 - Copy existing Bento database into DropBox
Step 2 - Move the original Bento folder & database
Step 3 - Create the Symbolic Link in Terminal
Clearing Out iPod & iPhone Files

By special request this week, I've also included a small section on how I've configured the two Mac Pros featured in last weeks show to use compressor within a virtual cluster - well you did ask!

190 - [Tr] iMovie 09 Update - Part 2 [Trailer]

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:45:38 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] The reaction to part 1 of the iMovie 09 update show was excellent, with lots of emails and twitters flying about, so thanks for that!

I really think Apple have invested a huge amount of time and resources to make this version of iMovie the best ever with respect to the ease at which you can create quite literally stunning effects. Part 1 of the iMovie 09 update focussed mainly on some of the new techniques required to master the clip editing features of iMovie 09. In this weeks show, we take a look at the stuff that give it the wow factor.

Apple have brought back themes to allow you to create some simply incredible openings, transitions and credits. Titles and transitions abound with real time previews and inspectors galore, giving you incredible control on how your final movie looks.

Brand new for this version is the inclusion of animated travel maps and globes allowing you to create gorgeous animated openings and transitions for your travelog movies. Effects that previously were out of reach of the average videographer.

And that’s before we even get onto the advanced topics!

Chapter marks are back allowing you to seamlessly integrate with iDVD, but also allowing you to add chapters into your quicktime movies intended for the iPhone, iPod touch or Apple TV. A new addition is the inclusion of comment marks, allowing you to place markers at strategic places in your movie enabling easy navigation during editing.

Apple have included some additional techniques to allow you to control exactly how your movies look, delivering advanced movie editing with a simple drag and drop approach. Advanced editing such as cutaways, picture in picture, even green screen effects are now available to you via drag and drop.
This weeks show looks at all these features in depth to allow you to understand how and when to use the multitude of new tools available to you. The show covers:

Transitions - Selecting and Previewing
Using Titles as Overlays
Titles and Backgounds
Selecting Themes
Updating Multipane Theme Transitions
Animated Travel Maps
Advanced Tools - Selection
Placing Chapter & Comment Markers
Searching Chapter & Comment Markers
Explaning and Demonstrating Advanced Tools
Cutaway
Picture in Picture
Green Screen

In addition, this weeks show includes the results of the monthly members prize draw, together with the results of the recent prize draw for members purchasing a ScreenCastsOnline DVD - some top Apple swag all the way from Cupertino CA!

188 - [Tr] iMovie 09 Update - Part 1 [Trailer]

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:24:38 +0000

[Trailer for Members Show] One of the most anticipated shows this week and that's the new iMovie '09 update.

Apple really upset a lot of people back in 2007 (yes, it really was that long ago!) with the release of iMovie '08. The application was a complete re-write of the original iMovie HD application, re-engineered to make movie making quick and easy. Unfortunately, along the way Apple managed to leave out a ton of features from iMovie '08, generating a lot of bad press and even more bad feeling amongst the mac faithful.

So have Apple capitulated with iMovie '09 and gone back to a more traditional approach to movie making?

An emphatic NO!!

What they have done is to take the principles first introduced with iMovie '08 and make iMovie '09 even more powerful. As well as that, they've also started to add back in some of the features, so sorely missed from iMovie HD.

As there is so much to cover in iMovie '09, I'm publishing two tutorials starting with part 1 this week. This first part covers some of the new features of iMovie '09 including one feature that will appease most of the nay-sayers and that's the brand new "Precision Editor", a great way to visually edit your project footage in what can only be described as a visual timeline.

This week show also covers:

Introduction to iMovie '09
Importing Footage
Archiving Footage to Hard Disk
Viewing Events & Projects
Editing in iMovie 09
Adjusting Clip Properties
Image Stabilisation
Video & Audio Inspectors
Precision Editor - Basics
Audio Editing using the Precision Editor
Editing Transitions with the Precision Editor

To get the most out of this weeks show, I strongly suggest you re-visit the original iMovie '08 tutorials for a good grounding in some of the basic principals. Instead of starting from scratch, this weeks show assumes a level of knowledge of iMovie '08, which you can pick up from the original shows. See the section is the show for further information or checkout the show notes.

186 - [Tr] Geotagging via the iPhone 3G [Trailer]

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:47:21 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] Following on from last weeks show about iPhoto '09, I've been playing some more with Places. There is something fascinating about being able to see the exact place on a map where you took a photo and it makes it so much easier to organise and find photos as well.

I was so impressed, I seriously started to consider how I might geotag photos in the future, especially with my forthcomming MacMania9 trip to Chine, Soth Korea and Japan in the summer. Yes, I could manually geotag photos when I get back but I'll be taking lot's and I won't really know where exactly I am at any particular time.

No, I thought I'd have to bite the bullet and consider a GPS enabled camera!

But after a flurry of questions and answers via Twitter, it became apparent that there is a much less expensive solution. That's to use a GPS Data logger to capture my GPS location and just carry on using my existing camera, combining the GPS data and the images on the mac. Super!

Things got even more interesting when it was pointed out that there is an application for the iPhone 3G that enables it to act as a GPS logger - all for the princely sum of £1.79!

Well I downloaded the app - Trails - and gave it a whirl and was thrilled with the results.

Basically, you use Trails on the iPhone 3G to track your position whilst you're taking photos with a normal digital camera. Email yourself the resultant GPS waypoint file when you're finished and use an application called HoudahGeo to combine the GPS date with your photos and you're done! Import the photos into iPhot '09 and they appear in your Places section with accurate positioning imformation.

So this week, I couldn't resist sharing this little gem with you, and went out on a mini ScreenCastsOnline roadrip to take some photos of two famous Liverpool landmarks. In the show I take you through the complete process from start to finish demonstrating Trails, HoudahGeo and iPhoto '09.

There is also a little tip to enable you to switch on scroll wheel and multitouch support in iPhoto '09 plus a quick pointer to some recommendations for dedicated GPS Trackers if you want to do some serious Geotagging.

184 - [Tr] SCO Archive DVDs [Trailer]

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:03:31 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] Something different this week in that I've created another tutorial based on a project rather than a single application. It's a peek behind the scenes to see how I create the ScreenCastsOnline DVD Archives. These are data DVDs I create each year as a service for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members. Each DVD contains all the HD versions of the shows for the previous year, allowing members to clear down iTunes and keep a copy of the shows for future reference.

Rather than just copy all the Quicktime movies over to the DVD (well that wouldn't be much of a show would it!), each DVD archive has a mini version of the main ScreenCastsOnline website installed right on the DVD. The mini website is based on the full version of the site complete with show notes and a direct link to each HD version of the show available on the DVD.

This weeks show takes you through how I use Rapidweaver to create the main ScreenCastsOnline website and then the multi-stage process to create the mini website from the very same RapidWeaver project.

Along the way, I also touch on:

Mousepose
Desktop Curtain
Rapidweaver 4.2
TextWrangler - Editing Multiple Documents
A Better Finder Rename
Burning DVDs with OSX
Payloom - Creating a Shopping Page in Rapidweaver

182 - [Tr] Mac Montage 05 [Trailer]

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:44:07 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] Unusually, this is the second Extra members only show in a row due to the fact that we had two free shows out of sequence last year!

Even more unusually, this is the second Mac Montage show in a row!

This week I've recorded a show in advance as it's Macworld week and there is no way I could record a normal show whilst at Macworld, so I thought I'd do one in advance for you.

Four new hints and tips in this weeks show:

SpaceSuit - It's always struck me as strange that Apple never built this functionality into Spaces itself - that being the ability to use separate wallpapers or images for each space you have setup. So this free utility fills the gap and allows you to do just that, making spaces seem just more useable.

Dock Space - Another free utility, but this time enhancing the functionality of the Dock. It has two modes, either giving you multiple configurable docks as well as Spaces integration. No you can have a different dock for each Space in Leopard. Combine this with SpaceSuit and suddenly Spaces takes on a whole new level of functionality.

Full Keyboard Access - Built right into OS X, Full Keyboard Access allows you to control all aspects of the OS X interface just by using the keyboard. Want to activate a different button on a dialog box than the default? Just TAB and Space and you're done - No mousing required.

Creating an EMail Signature using TextExpander - Another request - How do I create my email sig to include a graphic and embedded links. All is revealed and TextExpander is the answer!

181 - [Tr] Mac Montage 04 [Trailer]

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:05:14 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] As promised, a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members only show this week (and next!) and it's a Mac Montage show. This week I cover four separate hints and tips to get the most out of your Mac.

Secrets - A very smart preference pane that gives you access to a database of hidden settings for both OSX and many popular OSX Applications. No need to chant incantations or type long and unwieldy commands in terminal, Secrets gives you a simple GUI to access the settings and also buttons to restart Applications and services. I examine just a fraction of the hidden settings available including resetting and changing the appearance of the Dock, plus an exceptionally handy tip for iTunes.

Fiwi - Ever wished that Finder had two panes by default. Ever so handy when comparing folder contents or dragging and dropping. Well Fiwi is a simple utility that allows you to fire up two finder windows with one click and have them align and resize next to each other automatically, either in row or column configuration. You can even set a specific window configuration if you'd like. Very handy!

Colorflow - Well it is the New Year and perhaps you want to brighten up your Mac desktop a bit? Colorflow is a collection of 60 beautiful full colour icons created to replace your dull and boring Leopard folder icons. In this section, I take you through downloading and replacing your standard icons. I also show you how to put back the originals icons if you need to revert back to a standard configuration.

Smart Playlists - Still using the Podcast section in iTunes to sync and manage your podcasts on your iPod or iPhone. In this section, I show you how I manage my podcasts using smart playlists to create sorted playlists which manage themselves.

177 - [Tr] Handbrake & MetaX

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:49:07 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] Handbreak has been available for quite a while now and is acknowledged as one of the best applications to allow you copy convert your DVDs into media files playable on your Mac, your Apple TV and you iPod or iPhone. With the latest release, Handbrake is now capable of converting any video file, not just DVDs!

Add in over 600 changes since the last release, performance increases, better video quality and a whole slew of new presets to make Handbrake easier to use, and you'll appreciate that the updated application is well worth of a re-visit. Not only that, but Handbrake is open-source, GPL-licenced, multi-platform and also completely free! In this weeks show I take you through:

Installing Handbrake and any supporting applications
Converting a DVD to Apple TV format
Converting TV Show DVDs to individual episodes

Although Handbrake will create stunning copies of your DVDs and video files, you also need to update the converted files with metadata. Extras like cover art, descriptions, titles, actors, dates, genres, chapter labels, etc, all help when transferring your physical video collection to an online library. Now you can enter all this information manually, but why not do it automatically? In this weeks show, I also look at a great application that will do it all for you by grabbing information from Amazon or tagChimp, and that's MetaX.

MetaX will search multiple information stores on the internet and allow you to choose the metadata you wish to tag your video files. Once you've assembled the information, MetaX will copy your original file, write the metadata to your video file and pass it along to iTunes for syncing with any of your devices. All with a single click! You can even setup Handbrake to pass any converted files directly into MetaX for tagging once completed.

175 - [Tr] Working with Large Monitors [Sampler incl Full Segment]

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:50:09 +0000

[Sampler incl Full Segment] Actually, the title of this weeks show is a little misleading! Yes, the utilities featured in this weeks show will make using a large screen monitor easier, but they also will assist you on smaller monitors and even laptops. This show covers various utilities that can help you with managing how you move your cursor and your windows on screen. The utilities help you speed up your workflow by giving you some extra control over and above how OSX is designed to work delivering a much more efficient way of working (especially if you do use a large monitor).

For viewers of the free feed, I've included a full segment from the Extra! members only show as a taster but also to see if we can boost the sales of this particular app, for reasons that will become apparent as you watch the clip.

In this weeks full Extra! members only show I cover:

My Mouse Recommendations - A quick look at my Mice of choice - The Logitech MX Revolution Mouse and the VX Nano Mouse. I also give you a demonstration of the benefits of the dual function scroll and flywheel mechanism.

SteerMouse - A fully featured advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth mouse. SteerMouse allows to to fully program a wide variety of Mice and I show you my most favourite feature - a way to make your mouse pointer zoom across the screen automatically and land dead center on the default button of dialog boxes - no wrist movement required!

DejaMenu - A real boon for large screen or multiple monitor setups. You know how OSX arranges the Application menu bar across the top of the primary display? Well it can be a real pain constantly moving the mouse pointer from the left, right or bottom of the screen all the way to the top. And when your application window is on a separate monitor from the application menu bar - grrrr! Well DejaMenu is a free utility that comes to the rescue by allowing you to assign a key combination to pop up the application menu right under your mouse pointer - no matter where it's located on the screen. In the show I also show you how easy it is to remap the DejaMenu key combo to a single mouse button using SteerMouse.

MercuryMover - Whilst all these tips assist you using your mouse, true power users know that the keyboard is the way to go to speed up your workflow. On any Mac, constantly moving and resizing windows using the mouse can be a real time drain. The constant moving from keyboard to mouse and back again can add seconds to your workflow that over the space of a day, a week and a year, can waste an extraordinary amount of time. So wouldn't it be great to be able to resize and move windows directly from the keyboard with a couple of simple keystrokes? Well you can using MercuryMover! This simple but effective application allows your to move and resize windows by 1 pixel, 10 pixels or 100 pixels at a time and will also allow you to move or resize to the edge of the screen. You can even center or maximise your selected window with a single keypress. As well as these built in shortcuts, MercuryMover also allows you to save custom keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to save the size, position or both for any window on screen. Do you always want Safari to be the same size and position when you use it? Well you can reapply a saved setting via MercuryMover and resize and repostition the window everytime with pixel point accuracy. MercuryMover is currently available at a reduced price but ScreenCastsOnline viewers can get an additional 10% off by visiting a special store page. With each copy of MercuryMover sold, $2 of the purchase price will be donated to the National Cancer Coalition

173 - [Tr] Mac Montage 03

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:29:17 +0000

[Trailer for Full Show] Another Mac Montage this week! A couple of tips I use every week to create the show and associated supporting documents and graphics along with a great way to personalise your emails, together with a look at an OSX application.

This weeks tips in detail are:

Finding and capturing HiRes Icons in OS X: Now that Leopard supports huge 512x512 icons, application designers have gone to town, creating beautiful HiRes icons for all of your favourite applications. Not only that, but Apples own designers have created many, many beautiful HiRes icons for folders, software and even Apple hardware devices. This tip will show you how to find them on your system, copy them safely and create your own transparent png graphics for use in graphic projects and presentations - all for free. The tip also includes a handy little trick for capturing those gorgeous 512x512 icons from third party applications too!

Creating eMail Stationery Templates: Another new feature in Leopard was the inclusion of full colour HTML based email templates to brighten up your emails. Whilst, the pre-built templates are all very nice (!) wouldn't it be great to design your own personalised eMail templates for personal or business use? Well this tip shows you how to do just that! By examining an existing email template, this tip steps you through the structure of the template and shows your how to amend the template to suit your needs, then save it as a custom template.

Using The OS X Dictionary: The dictionary has been around for a while, but has been greatly expanded in Leopard to allow you direct access to a Thesaurus, and Apple dictionary and even direct access to Wikipedia. This tip also shows you a simple keyboard shortcut that allows you to look up words in any Cocoa app without having to load the full dictionary application - very cool!

Capturing Single Frames in Quicktime Movies: This simple tip shows you how to capture a single frame in a Quicktime movie and export it to png or jpeg format.