Tips

The University of Kentucky has a clear document explaining procedures for storing video files and events information for iMovie '08.

In short, iMovie HD used an integrated, single "project" file model of storage: when you started a project, you'd have to import all the video you wanted to use into that one self-contained project document, and then edit it from within that document/project. This makes it simpler to keep track of everything you need for your project, and therefor, to keep it on an external FireWire drive, or internal Scratch Disk (a shared folder on the local Hard Drive).

iMovie '08, on the other hand, uses the now familiar multiple file directory structure of other programs (Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Pro for video, but also Pages uses a variation of this), where the content (the raw video footage) is stored in a separate location from the editing information (cuts, transitions, titles, etc.). The advantage of this is the ease of use for sharing content among projects. However, it does complicate storage as all footage becomes shared and accumulates quickly, filling up Hard Drive space, but it also makes it difficult for network accounts to work cleanly locally.

The U of K solution above, explains how to save the "iMovie Events" folder and "iMovie Projects" folders in non-default locations.

For educators, particularly at the primary level, this creates some complications.

We're still working them through.

iWeb is a slick-as-only-Apple-can-do application.

The compromise for Apple in making such an elegant WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") UI ("user interface") is ("is") that you have to make some compromises in terms of flexibility and customizability.

For example, a great teaching tool in iWeb is the Google Maps widget. With it a teacher can quickly create a page on a land formation, historical location, or geo-political region (or anything else) and add a live google map to show it in its context (satellite, map, or hybrid). Sounds great!

The only problem (Problem? Impossible!) is that the Google Map widget only works with a valid address from the Google map database. If the location (a ravine, a bay, a forest) doesn't have an address, or the address hasn't been added to the Google DB, there is no way of pointing the map that specific location.

The good news is that there are work-arounds. (Which makes me think we could create a joke: How did the Apple chicken cross the street? It was dragged and dropped because it couldn't right-click.)

One solution is to find a nearby location that exists in the database and then change the reference frames of the map (drag the edges of the window) until only the area needed is visible.

Another solution is to use Wikimapia.org. This process is dead simple:

1) Go to Wikimapia.org and find your desire location on the map (using the controllers at the top left or by mouse grabbing and scrolling).
2) Once you have found your location, click on WikiMapia -> Map on your page

3) Drag the window to the positions you want for the map on your page.

4) Select and copy the black HTML code in the pop-up window.

5) In iWeb click Web Widget -> HTML Snippet

6) Paste the HTML code you copied from Wikimapia in the widget and position it where you wish on your page.

Hope this helps!

MainMenu and Onyx (freshly updated for Leopard) are two must-have maintenance programs for your Mac

Many thanks to Steve Stanger at the Mac Attack Us podcast for his great show on Mac maintenance, which outlines which scripts to run, why, and how. (HInt: clear System, User, Internet and font caches every six months - and not more often as this will slow down your mac.)

Do this and nothing will ever go wrong again.

Not that it ever did.

If you've ever listened to Yackademac, you may notice I don't follow my own advice. But, hey, it's taken me 15 episodes to figure this little amount out. I don't have time to actually use it for heaven's sakes.

Paul Colligan, on his blog, provides a four-step how-to on using GarageBand and The Levelator to improve the audio quality of your podcast. In short, he says to export your podcast vocal track to iTunes (in .aiff file form) to get it into a file format that the Levelator can read. You'll have to delete the podcast track (the top track in GarageBand if you've clicked on the "Create New Podcast Episode" when you launched GarageBand and opened a project) prior to clicking Share -> Send Podcast to Itunes.

Don't worry, just save the project before you do this if you've already added art to make it an enhanced podcast and then close it without saving to get your track back once you've exported. Hope that makes sense. (If not re-read slowly, and in a different voice. You never know, it may help.) The easiest workflow would just be to add all that interactive content after you've got the audio vocal track sorted out. All you have to do to turn a regular audio project in GarageBand into a podcast is to click Track -> Show Podcast Track.

Moving in confusingly reverse chronological order - just to keep you on your toes - the Levelator "Read Me" (which I broke tradition and did) says "Do any noise reduction and equalization before using The Levelator. The better the input to The Levelator, the better the output." One great plug-in for reducing background noise is SoundSoap 2 by Bias. To access this application using GarageBand, once you've followed the instructions and installed it, just select the track you want to clean up, click the "i" in the bottom right ("View/ Hide the Track Info."), click the "Detail" arrow, and use the pop-up to select SoundSoap. Twist the the dials and click the buttons until you're happy with the sound.

As a final piece of free advice to educators, and worth every penny, just stick to the built-in mic of your Mac and the pre-configure Effects in the Track Info window that GarageBand provides. "Male Narrator Noisy" is a particularly good setting for male podcasters. Simple and effective.

I should have mentioned this at the start, but I wanted to keep you reading. Enjoy!

If you're tired of trying to figure out how to make the background of an image transparent in Photoshop (Now, first the magic laso, no, we need a new layer, wait, do I flatten it?), Pages comes to the rescue with one of its most brilliant hidden tools.

Import an image into Pages (the ole' drag n' drop will do), select it, then go Format -> Instant Alpha. Then drag as much or as little of the background away as you want, click return, and Bob's your transparent uncle. You've now got an image you can overlay without having a square block around it. Nothing could be simpler.

Except, possibly, string. Not the theory, just the twine.

An Eclectic Mind : Podcast Playlists No Longer Play Continuously:

Problems are almost worth having when the solution feels this good.

Apple in a "feature" update took away the ability to play podcasts sequentially: at the end of each podcast the playlist would stop and return, paused, to the list of podcasts. This is very frustrating for people who like to listen to podcasts continuously rather than stopping after each one.

The solution, as Maria Langer points out in her blog, is to turn off the "Shuffle" feature in the Settings section of your iPod (or by clicking the centre of the click wheel when any song is playing until the shuffle window appears - turn "off"). A reset may also be needed to make the new selection stick.

It's reminiscent of the programming claim that "bugs are just undiscovered features." Sure they are.