MacBreak Tech

If you’ve ever wanted to see a podcast in action you’ll get the chance to see a live recording of MacBreak Tech next week at MacWorld Expo. We’re on the Podcast Studio stage at 4PM on Tuesday. Here’s a link to the schedule. 

That was fast. Hello 2008!

…later 2007!

Lots of people say that the “Desktop” is a bad thing but it’s really not. It’s a visual place for things that you are working on right now. Here’s a guy that snapped his work space everyday for the last year and made those images into a movie.Link

Craig wants to know all about configuring his network.

 

 Standard Podcast [124:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (624)

Here’s the changes you can expect to see for 2008:

1. Forum 
2. More Articles
3. Links to products we recommend
4. How to Videos (like Makes Weekend Project)
5. Projects
6. Upgrade Check Lists
7. Library
8. Example Code
9. More geek guests
10. New Logo and Site Redesign

Please stand by. 

Why bother learning Quartz Composer? It works practically every where in apps like Final Cut Studio, Motion, iTunes, Keynote, QuickTime and embedded on a web page. Both artists and programmers alike can do great things with QC.

You don’t need Leopard to get started with QC but to take advantage of new features you’ll need it installed. From a learning point of view it doesn’t matter if you start in 10.4 or 10.5. Either is fine. However, you may find it confusing at first. Be sure to examine all the examples found in the Example folder. Which can be found in /Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer. 

Inputs can be practically anything! iSight camera, keyboard, RSS feeds, MIDI and Bluetooth devices like a Wiimote, and USB devices like a Guitar Hero Guitar or a Wacom tablet. 

A good guide to getting started can be found on Apple.com. 

http://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/quartz/quartzcomposer.html

The link to the very cool digital level meters is here:

http://www.coremelt.com/products/products-for-final-cut-studio/download-veeyou.html

Other visual programming languages mention are

Pd (Pure Data)

Processing, 

Max/MSP/Jitter

The Audible book pick: The Puppet Masters Correction: In the show we said the ATI buy direct was store.ati.com. It’s not. Use the link shop.ati.com instead.  

 

 Quartz Composer [64:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (504)

Want proof that if you have a problem all you have to do is tell what your problem is and somebody listening on the intercom will solve it for you? I was complaining that maps.google.com didn’t parse a two line address that got pasted into the search field. The first line makes it and the second line is disappeared. An address has to be on one line to get pasting to work. That you have to pre-format makes the experience less like the magic that it could be.Enter the magic: googmappin.com takes your address that is formatted on multiple lines and feeds it to google correctly formatted. So cool. Follow the link then drag the URL to your Bookmarks bar in Safari or Bookmark it (Command-D) to the Bookmarks bar and name it maps. Now when you need a map just click that button and paste the address.

Here’s something that we’ll cover in a future show. It’s a Automator action that allows you to run a Python script just like how you can run AppleScript. Link.