B.ll Sh.t Apple Predictions: MacBook Air

i had a very spirited conversation with my best friend about what may be expected from the upcoming Apple event. specifically what may become of the MacBook Air (MBA) product if Steve Jobs announces a new one.

my b.ll sh.t prediction is that the Apple will forgo using Intel chips and start using the Apple A4 processor. same one found in current iPad product. in addition to that making the MBA the first Apple laptop to run iOS. this to me this makes perfect sense on so may levels.

first of all, the potential to continuously promote their Apple A4 processor. the A4 is already found in the iPhone, iTouch, iPad, and now the new Apple TV. with respect to the MBA: just think of the iPad with a hardwire keyboard in a clamshell design. no more having to buy custom Intel Core 2 Duo chips. in fact all Apple would have to do is just redesign the logic board from the iPad to fit into MBA.

second of all, why the iOS?. the next MBA is reported to have a reduction of the screen size down to 11.6 inches. just shy of the size of the iPad. why is that significant? cause Apple doesn't see their Mac OS in it's native form as a one-size-fits-all solution for all their products. continuing to use the Mac OS was important to the iPhone, but it needed to be scaled down to fit on a device with limited storage. in addition to that it needed to have the UI redesigned in order to be accommodated on a 4 inch screen while supporting the fingers and thumbs as the primary input devices. and even though the iPad's screen is substantially larger than the iPhone's, iOS continues to work well on it while allowing Apple to expand their micro OS's potential. in addition to that opening up the App Store to another product.

lets presume that the upcoming MBA doesn't have a touch screen like the iPad. how would a user interface with it using iOS 4? one basic interaction would be with the track pad. with the established hand gestures already found on the MacBook/MBPro, a user could use those same gestures to swipe from one desktop page to the next, bring up the multitask bar, or pinch & zoom. basic functions. nothing too special. of course it would just be cooler if the MBA did have a touch screen.

in terms of the kinds of 3rd party apps that would run on it, i would imagine that developers would have to include additional support for the MBA on their already existing apps. or, perhaps, develop unique apps just for the MBA just as there are unique apps for the iPad in the App store.

speaking of the App Store, this opens it up to a new device, and gives the developers something exciting and unique to develop for. especially when developers could offers their wares for free courtesy of Apple's iAd service - another service that benefits Apple's bottom line

with WiFi connectivity to be expected, the MBA could be the first MacBook to have a 3G wireless subscription service (a la AT&T) just like the iPad. if the MBA includes a front-facing camera, think about the iPhone's Face Time on it.

now let take this a step further. what if this prediction the MBA becomes true? the way i see it Apple may use the MBA as an experiment to see how well the masses respond to the iOS on Mac hardware. let's assume users love this idea, and the iOS UI becomes more liked than the current Mac OS UI. it would seem to me that Apple may one day release a Mac OS resembling that of the iOS.

of course i'm just talking unpredictable b.ll sh.t here. when it comes to predicting what Apple may release, i'm so far off. still, fun to think about it.

peace,
@riel

Mac OS 10.7 (Lion?)

earlier Gizmodo posted an entry revealing a new design patten for the iMac allowing it to be position so that the display panel can be used as a touch surface.

this week Gizmodo posted an entry detailing the next Mac OS - 10.7 (Lion?). the new gimmick with the OS? mutli-touch capability. i'm not entirely sure how i feel about this, but a new OS is always good news. and not since Tiger has Apple promoted a better feline. both of my Mac Minis came with Tiger, and based on promotional images it's quite possible my next Mac may run this new "Lion" OS.

Oct 20 is the next Apple event that will reveal more details about this, and perhaps a few other product announcements. i'll be checking out the coverage, and probably have a lengthy discussion afterwards with my best friend over it.

i hope to give my thoughts about it sometime after the event.

peace,
@riel

Microsoft Needs To Simplify

up until now have written entries regarding my joys and pains of Apple and their computers. i have yet to write about Microsoft, and the truth is i have been a Windows user since the days of MS-DOS6.22/ Windows3.1 way back in 1993. since then i had made every effort to learn about computers; how they work, all of the hardware that makes up a computer, and using tech lingo such as, "you have to modify the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS file." remember that? actually that last part didn't come in handy until two years later when i started working for a multimedia retail store called Media Play. ah, those were the days.

over the years i have moved up from Windows 3.1 to 95 when i made the transition from a Packard Bell 486SX to an HP Pavillion with a Pentium 133MHz, from 95 to 98 when i made the trasition from the Pavillion to a Gateway with a Pent-3 running at 450MHz, and finally leap-frogging over Windows ME and upgrading to XP Pro with my Gateway.

anyway, the point is before i became Mac, i was Windows, and still am thanks to Parallels Desktop.

i never had any major issues with Microsoft except for one; their insistence of marketing multiple versions of Windows with every release. this wasn't such a big deal with XP. three simple and self-explained choices; Home Edition, Profession, and Media Center. but with Vista it became a little more complicated with 4 versions which broke down the Home version into Premium & Basic. instead of having a Media Center edition, Microsoft included media center functionality with the Home Premium version. and the Home Basic is just the core functioning O/S of Vista - stripped down - to address the lack of hardware support some user's systems didn't have for Home Premium and over. and it seems that Windows 7 will be broken down into these versions... again.

**sigh**

for tech geeks this isn't a major issue, because we can handle the unexpected; if any issues arise, we know where to find support and information. but the average user isn't a tech geek (not in the truest sense anyway). they are made up of consumers who expect technology to work as designed and function flawlessly, but it isn't always the case.

Microsoft has a history of "copying" Apple, with respect to the user interface. why don't they "copy" Apple's marketing approach to selling one version of their operating system? the "one size fits all" approach. sell the Ultimate edition only, and during the installation have a function to determine how much stuff can be installed based on the system's hardware profile. or simply sell the Professional edition and open up a Windows Market Place. allow user to pay and download extra features - much like the iPhone App Store - such as the media center or additional security functionality.

i don't blame switchers who complain about their troubled past with Windows, or any users who thinks Microsoft is too big for itself; so big in fact that it's ability to maintain a high level of product quality and customer satisfaction to their retail consumers is anything but high. case in point: Windows Mobile 6.5 not being completely ready prior to its release.

i will give Microsoft big props for allowing all users to play with Windows 7 as a release candidate for a year prior to the official release to work out any real-world bugs. it gives us users a chance to see what Windows can really be and do, and gives Microsoft plenty of feedback from user's experiences. this approach is very smart as it will give them time to correct as many issues as possible assuring a gold level release when the time comes.

i downloaded Windows 7 RC and began running it via Parallels Desktop, and i have to say Windows 7 is fast. real fast. so far my personal user experience with 7 is much better than Vista.

the only thing that would ruin this is another multi-version marketing approach that will do nothing but confuse the average consumer, who will scratch their heads and wonder which version to buy.

Microsoft, if you're reading this...

SIMPLIFY; SELL ONE VERSION OF WINDOWS 7!!!

trust me, users will love and/or appreciate you for it.

peace,
@riel

Trying out Blogo

so i was looking to see what twitter clients were available that may extend it's functionality. i've noticed how other's twitter posting include links and even images. i can't seem to do this with web-based twitter client from Twitter.com, so i visited the site remembering that they posted apps and widgets.

this one particular app called Blogo caught my attention, because not only did it post on Twitter, but it was originally written to post on blogs. so i downloaded the trail just to check it out. i have to say that so far i like what it can do. i can connect to my Blogger account and create new post & re-edit older posts as well, add images & links without having to deal with HTML codes, and has a preview function so you can see what your blog entry will look like before you post it. i can even schedule postings, and there's even this full-screen function to allow you to focus your attention on your writings. oh yeah and it does Twitter postings as well.

it took a of bit trail-and-error just to set it up to my Blogger account, but now that i got it running it's pretty neat. it may just be worth the asking price of $25.

go check it out.

this entry edited using Blogo.

peace,
@riel

Getting (needlessly) picky with Apple.....: The Mac Mini, Part 2

WHAT THE HELL, APPLE?!!!!

$599 and the Apple Remote is not included anymore?

you cheap bastards!

>:(

@

Getting (needlessly) picky with Apple.....: The Mac Mini, Part 1

first off let me apologize for my absence. i have been not been updating my blog for quite some time due to the fact that i have started the spring semester at Quinsig - doing my best to keep up with my studies.

that said, i want to begin with the recent announcement of one of Apple’s latest products. by now the world knows about hardware updates made to the entire Mac line-up, including the Mac Mini (MM). being an owner of two MM’s, i was very impressed with the updates Apple made to the MM line-up such as:

• faster front-side bus
• higher capacity memory
• faster Core 2 Duo
• the addition of an extra USB port
• a better graphics processor

to name a few.

it would seem that Apple made some real progress with the MM, except for one confusing thing; why did they include a mini DVI port connector along with the newer mini DisplayPort? that does not make any sense to me?

when the MM progressed from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo, it would have seemed like the best time to ditch the full size DVI connector in favor of the mini DVI port. this way they could have squeezed an extra USB or Firewire connector. the iMacs and Macbooks at the time included a mini DVI port, so why not the MM? well, it seems that Apple’s MM is late to the trend. the latest iteration - which contains the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated video chipset - includes both the mini DVI port and the brand new mini DisplayPort. both ports are active allowing the MM capable of dual displays. which is really cool. yet for some reason having these two video ports together seems really tacky.

looking at it purely from a practical view, it does not make sense to pair up a newer display connector with an older version especially when Apple has been pushing for this mini DisplayPort as a industry standard. they have included the mini DisplayPort in all other products including the Mac Pro. none of these products - specifically the MacBooks and iMacs - utilizes the mini DVI anymore, or at all in the case of the Mac Pro. if Apple is successful in pushing the mini DisplayPort as a industry standard, that will mean future displays from other vendors will conform to it. and why shouldn't’t they? the mini DisplayPort is ideal for all notebooks and desktops alike. it’s less time spent having to screw anything down.

why include the mini DVI port with the new MM?

i don’t see any advantages of including the mini DVI port. from what i understand the mini DisplayPort can do everything that the mini DVI can do. in fact they are identical with respect to the digital signal scheme. the only difference is their physical appearance.

what about those adapters?

Apple manufactures adapters to connect a VGA or DVI monitor to the mini DVI port. they make similar ones that connect to the mini DisplayPort. so either way you're covered. but here's a slap in the face for users of the previous generation iMacs or MacBooks; what they don’t or have yet to manufacture is an adapter to connect a mini DisplayPort enabled monitor - such as the 24” LED Cinema Display - to the mini DVI port.

if you're covered either way, why remove the mini DVI port?

if there is currently no such adapter to connect a mini DisplayPort enabled monitor - such as the 24” LED Cinema Display - to the mini DVI port, then having dual mini DisplayPorts on the MM gives a user the added advantage of connecting - you guessed it - two mini DisplayPort enabled monitors. can you imagine driving two 24” LED Cinema Displays on a MM? i know that would be overkill, but having dual 24” does not make it any less sweet; just the opposite. if the MM is capable of handling them both, then why not? you’d think Apple would go with this if it could mean additional sales of their LED Cinema Display. plus if you look at the mock-up below, there’s enough real-estate back there for Apple to squeeze in another USB or Firewire 800.

why am i being so picky over this?

i guess it’s because i sometimes don’t get Apple’s reasoning over their design strategy, or the features they decide to add or take-away with every new revision of their products. in this particular case it's natural progression of technology; you know, going from 2GB to 4GB of memory, from DDR2 to DDR3, from 667 to 1066MHz FSB, from FW400 to FW800, etc. i figured Apple’s take on the MM to be all about progress; completely ditching all current standards in favor of something new and fresh, the latest and greatest.

bottom line?

if you’re going to make a point of promoting something as "new", why continue on with something old?

peace,

@riel

My New Media Studio Logo.

every time i'm about to enjoy a new movie at the theaters, i have to sit through a whole bunch of these animated film studio logos that appear in the beginning of the movie. and with every new big-budget movie that gets released, they seem to tack on more of them. apparently movies now-a-days require more logistical support to film, produce, and post produce. one of the movies i recently watched, "Wanted", had 8 film studio logos to which four of them (i think) - including the main studio - had animated logos that appeared just before the movie started. some of them are pretty cool to watched, and some are visually useless.  but no matter what they are ALL annoying to have to sit through when you just want to get started with the movie.

now i have been toying with the name Arielistix as my fantasy media production studio to give my content some kind of home. i mean to tag my videos and music with "by Ariel" is just plain boring. inspired by these annoying, yet cool-looking studio logos i decided to come up with my very own.



i was able to generate this using Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4). it took several layers including the audio track i generated in GarageBand. motion key-framing allowed all the movements, and the opacity transitions allowed me to fade the "@!" to 21.*

i know it seems kinda stupid, but once i started working on it i couldn't stop. actually i think it's pretty neat. perhaps someday i can turn my fantasy production studio into reality. if it happens, at least i'll have an animated logo to compete with the big boys and annoy someone else. ha ha!

peace,
@riel

* the characters "@" and "!" corresponds with the numbers "2" and "1" respectively on a typical querty keyboard. 21 is my favorite number.

Upbeat with Apple's GarageBand.

here is the second tune i was working on.



right-click on the following below and use the "Save Link As..." option to download my tune,

AAC (.M4A)
MP3 (.MP3)

or head over to my media site ARIELISTIX Media!

peace,
@riel

Chillin' with Apple's GarageBand

so last night i was a little bored and decided (for some strange reason) to play around with Apple's GarageBand (GB) app. somehow i started with a project with a tempo setting of 128bpm and ended with this 89bpm chill piece. and i have to say that working with GB became a little addictive once the arrangement starting to take shape.

i'll write more about it later, until then enjoy.



right-click on the following below and use the "Save Link As..." option to download my tune.

AAC (.M4A)
MP3 (.MP3)

peace,
@riel

It Is Finished!!!

here it is; my entry to Otakon 2008 AMV contest - the second (and quite possibly final) edition to my Macross Plus AMV, "Dyson's Revelation". this edition feature some new enhancements to the existing video. along with the changes mentioned earlier, i managed to learn how to use to the Motion Keyframe feature in Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4) to add movements to the most of the still video sequences; which i think helps to add some much needed "flow" to the video. i mean there were scenes containing motion and some that were at a stand still. it kept bothering me that whenever the video transitioned from a motionless scene to one with movement, i felt like i was in a car that kept stopping and going, stopping and going, stopping and going.

my other problem was trying to get the video to the specification required by Otakon. they "STRONGLY encourage" all participants to enter their video as a 720x480 MPEG2 video with AC3 or mp2 audio. and though they are willing to convert the video for you if you can't, i didn't want to take any chances on my video looking bad. so i decided to tackle this myself. it took me over a week to get my video to conform to MPEG2. i did eventually find a solution; it is as follows:

01. exported my project from FCE4 as an uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 quicktime movie.

02. imported the quicktime movie into iDVD, authored a quick and simple DVD image, but saved it using the "Save As VIDEO_TS folder..." option.

03. opened the saved VIDEO_TS folder with Handbrake (HB) to remaster the video using it's deblocking & denoising features along with other advanced settings. the resulting video file would then be MPEG4, cleaned and polished.

04. used Burn.app to create the final MPEG2. set Burn.app to write video to DVD, then imported the MPEG4 file. Burn.app automatically converted the MPEG4 video to MPEG2.

with MPEG Streamclip i was able to confirm the specs on the final video using its "Show Stream Info" feature.


unfortunately FCE4 does not export video to MPEG2. i was hoping that MPEG Streamclip would easily convert MPEG4 video to MPEG2, but it doesn't work that way. i tried using FFmpegx to transcode it. it worked, but for some reason the resulting video didn't playback well enough. it was jumpy and contained weird anomalies like distortions and pixelations. i wasted a great deal of time re-encoding my video over and over again - hence why it took me over a week - until i figured out what the problem was; it turned out the MPEG4 video was encoded @ 23fps (frames per second) instead of 30fps. that was my fault. apparently i didn't force HB to encode the VIDEO_TS files to MPEG4 @ 30fps as one of its compression parameters.

a quick comment about FFmpegx: it took a while to get used to using the app due to its multitude of features and settings. at first use it seemed a little overwhelming. at every attempt to convert my MPEG4 to MPEG2 i experimented with different features enabled/disabled, and settings at different adjustments. and though in the end i went with using Burn.app, FFmpegx is a really good tool to have in my arsenal. i honestly like it, and will most likely make further use of it for future projects.

this was a rough road to travel on cause it led me to so many dead-ends. but this is a good thing for me. at least now i know how to over come this problem for my next project. in any case it'll be on its way to Edison, NJ soon enough. i just hope it make it by the 7th as that is the deadline.


i'll be attending Otakon 2008 with some friends. i'm looking forward to seeing my video on display. perhaps with the changes i have made it'll make a better impression this time around. if it doesn't make it as a finalist, i'm hoping that it'll still get showcased somewhere along the weekend. i plan on taking video of the crowd's reaction to my AMV. this is going to be sooooooo cool.

one more thing, i plan on posting this final edition of Dyson's Revelation on my alternate YouTube site Arielistix along with a video of the project through the eyes of FCE4. also seeing is that this is the final edition, i'm finally going to post my final video on AnimeMusicVideo.org, finally. it's long overdue.

peace,
@riel

I'm not Apple Obsessed!

i know this is not as bad as some people, but my friends think i'm a little obsessed. can't help it, i like this stuff.


left to right:
01. Blue Tooth Wireless Keyboard, aluminum
02. Mighty Mouse,
03. Final Cut Express 4
04. Mac Mini Core 2 Duo, 2Ghz
05. Nike Amp+ Wrist remote *
06. Nike Amp+ sensor kit *
07. Time Capsule, 1TB
08. iPod Nano, 4GB
09. Airport Express accessory kit **
10. Airport Extreme ***

other boxes not pictured here:
Mac Mini Core Duo, 1.66Ghz
23" Cinema HD Display
iPod, 30GB, 3rd gen
iPod wired remote for 3rd gen

* thanks Billy
** i don't own an Airport Express, but the kit did come in handy
*** sold to my friend Sean.

Things to come - Dyson's Revelation, Part 1

the following is NOT a review or tutorial of Apple's Final Cut Express 4.


i'm working on my second revision of "Dyson's Revelation" prior to my submission to the AMV contest held by Otakon this year, and i have learned, and still learning, some of the options offered in Apple's Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4). one of the coolest things i discovered was a simple effect called "Light Rays" which seems to give this glowing aura around the subject. observe, the following clips show the progression of this cool effect starting with the base stock video pulled off the DVD.




now here is the same clip but with the Light Rays filter added to it.




and again, but with a second Light Rays filter added. this one, however has a little movement to it. check out how the second light source moves as if it's behind the logo.




cool, ain't it?

A Few Thoughts On My Mini

ok, the only thing aside from my enjoyment of anime, sci-fi movie, Final Fantasy, and Ralph Bakshi films (to name a few things), are gadgets. for the past couple of years i became somewhat enamor with my mac minis ever since i got the first one back in May 2006. so much so that i could not be satisfied using my 17" Gateway monitor featuring a Sony Triniton (near flat) CRT in the beginning. a month after buying my Core Duo 1.66Ghz, 1GB system i went out and got the 23" cinema display - a purchase worth more than my mini.





now i have always admired Apple's product from afar, but with this mac mini i would truly begin my love-affair with Apple. now, i'm not a mac-head by any stretch, but this little thing, with all the apps a user could ever need and want, was just the perfect little package. after learning of its technical specs (ever since the days of the PowerPC G4) i felt impressed how this squarely shaped laptop (without a keyboard, mouse, video display, and battery) can pull the necessary weight to run some pretty hefty media projects.

though the mac mini is marketed as a desktop CPU, underneath the hood lies the layout of a laptop. think about it. all the components inside are all laptop grade - the processor, hard drive, memory modules, the cd-rom, and the video processor are in line with Apple's MacBook (without a keyboard, mouse, video display, and battery of course). and yet amateur video editing can be accomplished with ease and simplicity.

to be fair, perhaps, the mini isn't a big deal. these days even budget laptops PCs you can pick up in Wal-Mart can perform video editing and other multi-media tasks on par with the mini. so there's more to it than the hardware aspect. after all, todays Macs are built using an Intel architecture, so ipso facto Macs are PCs despite the Apple logo.

both of my mac minis came with Mac OS 10.4, Tiger, and for some reason every app that operates under this O/S feels so much better than their MS Windows counterparts. for example, i run Handbrake on my minis to convert my DVD collections into movie files i store on my home file-server. Handbrake is about the coolest app to use and it runs so beautifully. i loaded Handbrake to my bother's new HP laptop that he got from Best Buy a week ago. thinking that the Windows version was just as easy to run, much like it does on the mac, i found that it didn't work right. at first i couldn't get it to read the DVD-rom. then, when i thought i figured it out, it caused the system to freeze. i don't pretend to know what happened, but there it is. now i'm sure there's a good reason why it didn't work, but who cares. it runs great on my mac, and my brother is just going to have to learn enjoy his movies off his DVDs.

during the course of editing "Dyson's Revelation" i used the installed iMovie HD 6. the rough cut of the video was so much better than i first imagined with respect to editing and piecing other aspects of the video together. the initial experience was rough, but after some time i learned of better techniques, and corrected the mistakes i was making. in the end the process became smoother and manageable allowing me to concentrate on the project itself.

i had hoped that someday i would graduate from working on iMovie to Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4), but before that would happen i felt it necessary to get a better system. in August 2007 i made a new purchase for a Core 2 Duo 2Ghz,2GB memory mac mini. following that on November i bought FCE4. to my surprise my 2Ghz mac mini ran FCE4 well enough to edit the final version of my video. however i have yet to fully experience FCE4 in with all of the settings set to high. i have had to cut down on the real-time playback feature in the canvas screen to 1/4 frame-rate, and the video quality to "Low". this made reviewing my video, prior to exporting it to a movie file, though do'able, rather annoying. i truly enjoy working with FCE4, but on a mac mini without a real GPU with its own dedicated video memory, it's just not enough.



if you're wondering what happened to my 1.66Ghz mini, it's enjoying a good life as my new media center in my living room attached to a beautiful 32", 720p, Sony Bravia LCD, and wirelessly connected to my home network thanks to my Airport Extreme.

so i'm looking on Apple's store site and checking out the macbook pros (MBP) under their refurb area, and i must say they have some pretty impressive deals on 2.4Gh with 2GB of memory, and an NVIDIA GPU equip with 256 MB of dedicated video memory for less than $1700. it looks like i'll have to work some O/T to get one, but it's about time i got a laptop, and if i'm going to get one it might as well be a MBP. like iMovie to FCE4, it's time to graduate to something better, and add it to my list of enjoyments.

peace,
@riel