iLife '08 101: Manage Your iPhoto '08 Library

Apple decided to rearrange the way iPhoto manages it's Library in iLife '08, which means that you can't just navigate to your "Pictures" folder to see the originals right from Finder. This can be frustrating, especially if you just want direct access to your pictures without opening iPhoto.

Here's a quick "How-To" on how to access your iPhoto pictures directly from Finder:

1) Open up your "Pictures" folder in your user account, and locate the "iPhoto Library"




2) Control click on the "iPhoto Library" file, and in the menu that pops up, select "Show Package Contents"



3) Open the folder called "Originals"



4) From inside the "Originals" Folder, you can browse through all of the originals of your pictures.



Happy iPhotoing!!!

Good News iPhone Fans: 3rd Party Apps Working On 1.1.1!

Good news for iPhone owners around the world, TUAW's Erica Sadun is reporting a major breakthrough in the journey to jailbreak the iPhone's 1.1.1 firmware update which previously locked out all 3rd Party apps on the phone: "iPhone hacker asap18 has managed to port several applications to the iPhone and gotten them to appear properly on the home screen."

I love that they're obsessed with this! For me, it means that the iPhone Dev team is working incredibly hard (for free) to make this phone the best on the market. As to Apple's warnings about voiding your waranty by loading third party apps on the iPhone, I guess I understand it... a little bit... but c'mon, lighten up and maybe give us a break here. Can we maybe meet half way? Maybe come up with an agreement like:

"If my phone breaks because of software issues, it's my fault and I take care of it. If it breaks because of hardware issues, you take care of it like my three year AppleCare Waranty says you will"?

I mean, I think they should honor the waranty no matter what, but I can kind of see their concerns. Besides, it's their first time in the Cell Phone industry, and I think they'll get better as time goes by (hopefully!)

Regarding the breakthrough, Sadun notes that not all apps are working at this time, and is very careful to point out that Unlocked iPhones still bear the risk of being bricked if they are updated to 1.1.1, so if you haven't, don't upgrade until they say so. And when the time comes when we can all jailbreak our iPhones again, be sure to take to heart the iPhone Dev Team's disclaimer on their site:

"The iPhone Dev Wiki is not responsible if you void your warranty or damage your device."

Get Over The "Product Killer" Trend Already!

It seems like everywhere I turn these days, somebody's releasing a new product that is supposedly going to "kill" their competitor's product. Whether it be an "iPhone Killer", a "Sidekick Killer"or the latest one I've seen "MacBook Killer" (in reference to a leak from Engadget that Dell will be releasing a 15.3in laptop akin to the MacBook Pro in many features except the one big one: It's Not A Mac!). I think it's due time we get over it and move on to something a little more grown up.

I don't know, I guess it all just reminds me of two First Graders arguing about their super powers and which one has the stronger ones, where the first kid boldly proclaims, "Oh yeah, well I have an super megatron laser" a statement which is quickly blasted down by the second child's announcement of, "Oh yeah? Well, I'm super megatron laser proof, so you can't hurt me!". You get the point.

While I appreciate the competitiveness in the tech world these days, can we PLEASE come up with another term to use? On second thought, why don't we use it with things that aren't tech-related? It could be fun! I might be interested in seeing something like "New Lyndt Chocolates Could Be Next M&M Killer!" or "Macy's To Sell Greeting Cards, Could Be Hallmark Killer!".

The comment lines are open for suggestions.

SHAZAM!!! New iPhone Ads!

Apple popped out 3 new iPhone ads this weekend, all of which steer clear of their traditional style that focuses on the iPhone's unique features. These spots seem to feature what would appear to be actual customers giving testimonials about how the iPhone has benefited them in their lives. The style of the commercials is different from Apple ads I have seen in the past, but shows similarities to the "Switch" ads that came out a few years back, and goes along with the company's "Share Your iPhone Story" section on their site. (Are they featuring people who submitted their iPhone stories?)

What does Apple hope to achieve through these commercials? Maybe that the iPhone does what it says it does. No testimonials about third party apps not working anymore? Hmmm... I guess I won't be seeing that any time soon. But apparently visual voice mail is one of the "greatest advancements in the history of mankind... without question"; at least that's what the guy in the first ad says, so it must be true, right?

In case you don't see them on TV, you can see the ads on Apple's site.

I Might Buy From Amazon Unbox If I Could Watch It On My Mac!

When I first heard about AmazonUnbox, I was excited. Any kind of competition to iTunes Store is highly welcomed by me. I figure, let them duke it out while we as customers (hopefully) sit back and benefit from them trying to out-do each other. In this case however, I'm not included in the customer base because I don't have Windows on my laptop, and my DVR isn't TiVo. I can't even try it to see if I like it.

Ok, ok... I know that's the price I pay for having a Mac, but don't you think it would at least do them some service to at least include me in the demographic? I'm not sure how it is where you live, but I keep seeing more and more people with MacBooks, and while we might not be the majority even by a far shot, I think we're a large enough percentage to at least get a chance. (In all actuality, my beef is mostly with Microsoft here for not giving me a full version of Windows Media Player for my Mac - don't they have a store too?)

I can say that I'm glad that Amazon at least threw us a bone with their new Amazon|mp3 service. I love how their songs fully integrate into iTunes and any other media player out there, including any and all PMPs. I hope (and truly think they will) give iTunes a run for their money!

And to be honest, with the way Apple has been acting lately, I guess I don't completely blame Amazon for doing this. After all, it is their store and they can choose who they sell to, but can't we at least work something out?

I'm interested in other peoples' thoughts about this.

AMAZING: South Korean Schools Create Human LCDs!

I'm still not sure how they do it, but in South Korea, school boys who are cheering for their soccer teams do so in a very interesting way: by creating what appears to be a human LCD screen displaying messages to cheer their team along. Apparently they do this by wearing multi-colored jackets (one color on the back, one on front and another on the inside) ans sometimes even incorporating their pants into the equation.

Here it is:



My biggest question: "How do they choreograph these things?"

Sony Walkman NW-A910 Hands On Pics

In lieu to my earlier post about TV On The Go, I just noticed that Engadget was able to get hands on with Sony's new Walkman NW-A910 1Seg Portable Media Player, and posted pics on their site. Looks pretty cool, but the screen doesn't look that bright in pictures... could be the lighting though.

Still no word on when this will be released outside Japan.

All This iPhone Criticism Won't Hurt Apple A Bit

It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I hear somebody griping about how Apple is turning into the new Microsoft, how they have become the "Big Brother" in their 1984 Macintosh commercial, and how they are against the developer community altogether by locking down their more than famous iPhone (so lovingly adorned the 'Jesus Phone' by many - mine has yet to walk on water though) with the latest 1.1.1 firmware update. And although there might be some aspects of truth in these statements, let's face it, neither Apple nor their ground breaking phone are going anywhere.

If you have ever heard the phrase "Bad publicity is good publicity", then you'll understand what I'm talking about. Every time somebody posts an anti-Apple blog, article or column.... BAM! Free advertising.

And then with the millions of people reading these sites every day, some who own iPhones, many more who do not; do we the faithful few realize how many people out there haven't actually seen an iPhone in person? I don't know about you, but when I hear bad publicity about a hyped product that I have never actually held in my hands, it makes me want to go to a store and check it out. If I do that, I might actually want to buy it, or at least another product in their store (I don't think I'm alone in this either. Has anyone been in an Apple Store lately? I always want to buy everything in there).

So, while we're sitting here drolling about how we don't like this or that, let us understand that Apple, Inc. is sitting back tapping their corporate feet to the plastic rhythm being made by the millions who are relentlessly pulling out their credit cards and blowing their children's savings on... you guessed it... Apple products!

In the meantime, my motto in regards to any kind of technology is and most likely always will be, "If it works for you, buy it. If it doesn't work for you, don't buy it."

It's as simple as that.

Why Can't I Access AT&T WiFi With My iPhone?

There's one thing about being an AT&T Wireless customer that I just really don't understand, and that is why my AT&T membership doesn't give me automatic access to all of their WiFi hot spots. It just seems like a natural conclusion that they would give their customers the ability to use their hot spots, but for some reason they don't have it in them to include this, at least in one of their packages. And it kills me every time I see an open AT&T WiFi network, and I can't connect unless I pay as much as I do for my internet at home?!?! I'm already paying an extra $20/mo for unlimited data on my iPhone. Now, I understand that they're probably more interested in making more $$ than they are with making me happy, but don't you think it might draw more people to their service?

I'm interested in what everyone thinks about this. And while I'm at it, how about free Mobile-To-Mobile Texting? Anyone? We've had free MTM Calling for some time now, and I think it's high time that they started including it with SMS as well. Give us a break people!

Revolutionary: Fusion-io SAN Drive, The Power of SAN on PCIe

This is definitely worth mentioning.

DEMOfall '07 housed one of the most revolutionary announcements that I have seen in a long time that could very well change the way we all store our information in the very near future. Fusion-io CEO David Flinn demonstrated their company's wave-of-the-future SAN drive, the 'ioDrive' which reportedly combines hundreds of gigabytes of flash storage on a small computer card that can fit in your shirt pocket. The device will connect through PCIe, and will have capacities up to 640GB!!! And that's only the start, the company is hoping to roll out a 1.2TB card in the not-too-distant future.

The impressive part to me is the data transfer rates. Flynn stated that the card has 160 parallel pipelines that can read data at 800 megabytes per second and write at 600 MB/sec.
Which in marketing terms means the ioDrive can perform "nearly a thousand times faster than any existing disk drive," and it can reportedly be integrated into existing data centers or workstations without any alterations to your infrastructure. This could play a huge role down the road in slimmer portable devices whose size limitations have had to do with the need for an internal Hard Drive.

Any guesses when Apple will jump on the bandwagon? I'd love to have some of these hooked up to a MacPro!

The devices will start showing up on the market next Quarter for professional Servers at $30 per GB, starting at 40 and 80GB, with 320 and 640GB models rolling out some time next year. Fusion also hopes to develop a 1.2TB version by the end of 2008.

Videos of the unveiling can be seen here.

[via TG Daily]

Cybook Gen3 eBook Reader

And so continues my fascination with Electronic Ink / Paper.

The French based company Bookeen has developed the Cybook Gen3, an amazing E-Book reader that uses Electronic Ink / Electronic Paper tehcnology. The reader was originally set to be released this month, but the company announced today that the released date has been pushed back until sometime next month. But the good news is that when it does come out, it will support the PDF format which is pretty cool in my opinion.

This past Tuesday, the company posted a YouTube video showing the reader in action. Just watching the video blows me away, the contrast looks unbelievable, and I love how small it is. I guess when I see the pictures, I just imagine it being more like the size of a Tablet PC, and not so much the size of my iPhone.

I really want these eInk eBook readers to come my way because I want one, plain and simple, I want one!

My iPhone Almost Didn't Make It Through The 1.1.1 Update

Earlier this week when I read Apple's notice about unlocked and hacked iPhones possibly rendering iPhones inoperable, I decided to go ahead and remove every 3rd party application from my phone by doing a software restore before the update came out. Despite having done this, I was still very nervous about doing the update, even though I didn't really need to be... or so I thought. I started the process, and was greeted by the now familiar update window with the warning that the update might make iPhones permanently inoperable.

The download was bigger than I was expecting at 152.3MB, and took about 4 minutes to download, and did so seamlessly.



After downloading and extracting the update, it went through the normal steps of extracting the update, and then a message popped up that said "Preparing iPhone For Software Update". All good, right? My iPhone was in its state of suspended animation waiting for the new software to start loading onto it, and then I got a message that I did not want to see:


With my iPhone still in its catatonic state, I did my best not to panic. I unplugged my phone, and tried to turn it on and got the Restore Mode icon on my screen:



I began to pray at this point that connecting to iTunes would actually work, and that my iPhone wasn't broken. The only thing I could think to do was to plug it back in. When I did, I got this warning:

I walked through the steps to recover my phone, and it worked. Tragedy avoided. I was afraid I was going to have to risk voiding my warranty. And while I know that might sound ignorant, when it's your phone at stake, see what goes through your head.

TV On The Go

For as long as I can remember, I have had a fascination with the idea of "Portable TV". From playing with my Dad's black & white hand-held TV to the time when my parents got me my first hand-held Casio TV when I was around 12, I would persistently attempt to pick up any and every TV station that I could, despite our remote location out in the middle-of-nowhere East Texas.

Then, as time passed my fascinations seemed to pass from new laptops that could play DVDs to portable DVD players, all of which kind of pushed the idea of hand-held TVs into the "Old School" area of my mind. And then, a few years back I had my first run-in with an Archos portable media player... my childhood fascinations came back with a fury. Within months, everyone was announcing their portable media devices: Cell Phones with video, iPod Video, PDAs with video, Smart Phones with Video... and the list went on. It seemed that every corner I turned, there was a new multi-media device popping up capable of not only playing your TV shows, but your movies as well! But even in the midst of all of this, I remember asking myself, "Why would anyone want to watch TV on their Cell Phone?" It never even dawned on me that I had always secretly wanted was finally here!

My fascination with this was sparked again when I learned about two new ways not only to get TV shows and movies on the go, but actual live TV. The first comes from Sony with their A910 Walkman with TV recording. [Thanks to MacNN] It's the third model in Sony's video-capable Walkman line, and comes with a built-in 1Seg tuner and an electronic programming guide allowing it to not only receive, but also play digital over-the-air broadcast TV on its 2.4-inch LCD and encode the shows on the go as permanent copies stored in the device's internal memory. Sony reports that up to 100 hours of footage can be saved on a 16GB player. The player also has a built-in noise canceling feature which reportedly eliminates background sound while watching TV or listening to music. It looks like the new Walkman will come in three sizes: 4GB, 8GB and 16GB, and is capable of playing all the pre-recorded formats of Sony's latest players, including H.264 and MPEG-4 video as well as AAC, MP3 and WMA music. On the downside, it's only going to be available in Japan with the possiblity of a U.S. release sometime next year. The question will be whether or not the 1Seg will be included when it comes to our side of the world. It would be unfortunate if it was removed.

The second device that caught my attention is announcement of a new Application for BlackBerry phones. [Thanks toSlingPlayer Mobile Engadget] There's no timetable on when this will be released, but I love the idea of being able to control and watch my home TV while I'm out and about. SlingPlayer Mobile also supports Palm and both the Smartphone and Pocket PC versions of Windows Mobile.

My hopes are high, and fingers crossed for a capability like this for my iPhone. While watching my TV shows and movies on my phone is cool, I would love the ability to watch live. If for no other reason, just to be able to do it.

French Newspaper to Debut Electronic Newspaper

I have this never ending obsession with Electronic Ink and E-Paper.

A press release on their site dated September 12, 2007 states that French Newspaper Les Echos, the French leading newspaper in electronic newspaper is partnering with Dutch based iRex Technologies to release the Les Echos Electronic Paper Edition on the iRex iLiad available for French readers sometime this month.

Two different editions will be offered to readers, and will be updated every hour from 7am - 9pm on Monday - Friday via a WiFi delivery system that will allow updates without the need to connect to a PC.

Pilippe Jannet of Les Echos states, "This will introduce a new era of newspaper publishing. It is a tradition of Les Echos to be the first to bring innovative solutions to their readers. With the subscription our readers will get an attractive offer of a year subscription of Les Echos with multiple editions, two free e-paper editions (one dedicated to Personal Finance information and one to Stock Exchange information), an extra AFP edition, some free e-books and the electronic paper device at a great bargain."

As to when newspapers in the United States will begin offering a service similar to this is yet unknown, but I hope it's not too far down the road.

For more info about the e-paper offer at Les Echos, you can visit: http://www.lesechos.fr/epaper/inscription.htm, or just read the press release

RUMOR: The Return Of The Newton?

Kasper Jade over at AppleInsider.com is reporting a possible return of the Newton to Apple's line of Multi-Touch products, something I highly speculate but am not completely putting off at this time. Who knows what Apple has up their sleeve?

According to the site, "the mutil-touch PDA has been described by sources as an ultra-thin "slate" akin to the iPhone, about 1.5 times the size and sporting an approximate 720x480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple's existing multi-touch products -- the iPhone and iPod touch -- like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste.

What might the device look like? Here's an artist's rendition of the rumored PDA:


Part of the rumor is fueled by a comment made by Steve Jobs back in 2004 at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference where in a Q&A he apparently made reference to an Apple PDA that the company had decided not to ship.

I guess only time will be the tell on this one, but as for me I'm hoping that the same features rumored to be on this new "PDA" will also come in future updates to my iPhone.

BIZARRE: Steve Jobs Hired OJ Simpson as a Hitman?

I found this last night, and think it's absolutely hilarious! Apparently some nut-case inmate in South Carolina is accusing Apple CEO Steve Jobs of hiring OJ Simpson as a "hitman" for the past 20 years, along with a hoard of other offenses. Here's a link to the article on AppleInsider.com

What will they come up with next?

Spotlight: E-Ink and E-Paper

I've been watching a little company called the E Ink Corporation, developer of Electronic paper, for several years now and it seems like they're finally starting to move their way more and more into the mainstream marketplace. A while back, Sony released their eBook reader featuring the monochrome technology that reportedly has the same contrast and reflective properties of paper, and reacts to sunlight in the same way paper does, making it an ideal medium for print formats such as eBooks, digital watches, cell phone displays, and in my mind creates new possibilities for WiFi Newspapers down the road, kind of like the live-update newspapers in the movie Minority Report.

Visit their site e-ink.com for more info on the technology as well as samples of products using ePaper. If you're interested in creating your own eInk products, you can purchase a Prototyping Kit from their website.

Just A Reminder: iTunes Store Coming Soon To An iPhone Near You!

I was poking around in Mobile Safari on my iPhone today, and wanted to see what would happen if I clicked on an iTunes Store link on a site I was on, and I got the page above. It was just an interesting reminder to me that I'll be able to blow my money even easier soon through the WiFi iTunes Store. I'm just asking the same question everyone else is asking: will we be able to download podcasts as well from the WiTunes Store?

The Purpose of This Blog: The Strange Infatuation With Technology That I Seem To Have

I've needed a place to vent and share my infatuation with technology for some time now, so I think I can justly say that this blog's presence online is far past due. You might be asking yourself who I am... am I someone of importance? Some renowned computer programmer? or perhaps a great Technology columnist from some big newspaper. Frankly, I'm none of these. I'm just a simple video editor who loves to envision where our technology will take us over the next century. I look at how far we have come in just the past decade, and it sends my mind racing with ideas and fantasies of what might lie ahead of us in the future. It's a bold world out there, and it's blazing hot with technology!

So, if you're reading this, or any other of my posts to come, consider it an open board to share your thoughts, good and bad concerning technology and the bold frontier that lies ahead of us.

Please note that since I am an editor, from time to time, I will be posting how-to's, tips and the like, mostly conerning my platform of choice Final Cut Pro and all the apps in FCP Studio 2.

All that said, I hope what you find here is enlightening, challenging and entertaining as we explore current, past and possible future technologies.