Installed it on my 1G Touch. Didn't see any significant difference. Backing up speed is around the same as 2.02, still kinda slow. 1 nice addition is the podcast section. Before, the UI only shows blue dot for unheard podcast, and nothing whether you done listening to the podcast or halfway through it. Now, it shows a half-blue-half-white dot for unfinished podcast. Great update, especially for those that listen to a lot of podcasts.
I couldn't care less about the "Genius" feature. Plus, you have to enable it in iTunes first. If not, the "Genius" on the Touch is disabled. On the keynote, Jobs made it sound like the Genius on the Touch is independent of iTunes, but missed this specific detail.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Apple September event, new iPods
You can watch the from Apple here. If you have subscribed to the Apple Keynote Podcast in iTunes, it should download the new keynote, albeit very slowly (since everybody is downloading it too).
So, what's new?
1. iTunes 8
New album display, kinda like Windows Media Player. Nothing exciting. Genius? Remember the iTunes mini store that nobody uses/turn off? Well, consider genius as the 2.0 version of the iTunes mini store. Basically it gathers info of your library, automatically creates playlist based on the "seed" song, and offer recommendation from iTunes store. Currently it's taking quite a while "gathering information" of my library after the installation of iTunes 8. My take? Meh. Really, Apple has done their homework when they released iTunes, and the previous subsequent updates, to the point that there is no reason to fix something that is not broken. Now, I guess the focus is to sell more stuff from the store. HD movies finally on desktops too, previously only available on Apple TV. But meh.
2. iPod Classic
As predicted, to compete with the new Zune, it is now 120GB only for $249. Grab the 160GB while you can, it's on clearance for $299 only. Or for a great deal, get the previous 80GB Classic for just $199! Again, meh. Apple used to be the leader, now it seems that it is following Microsoft since the 120GB Zune is available before this event.
3. 4G iPod nano
Apple change the nano yet again.
-Finally full aluminum enclosure ala 2G nano.
-Glass screen cover.
-A LOT of colors! Are you watching this Sony? Me like orange.
-Price is not aggressive enough. Again, Apple used to be the leader, now it's not. 8GB DAPs have been available for $149 from the competitors for quite sometime. $199 IMO is kinda a hardsell, due to the same price of 8GB iPhone.
-The accelerometer is nice, auto turning screen. Sony, where's yours? You still have to rotate screen manually on Sony DAPs.
-Shake to shuffle. Huh? Sandisk's Sansa shaker anyone?
-Not enough features to justify an upgrade. IMO the 3G nano is excellent, aside from the scratchable chrome back. The 4G nano would have been more interesting if it has more aggressive pricing (8GB for $99/$129, 16GB for $149) and built-in Nike+ transmitter. Hey, they put the Nike transmitter in the new iPod Touch, but not the nano? Doesn't make sense.
4. 2G iPod Touch
-Curved back as expected, ala iPhone 3G
-Stainless steel back? I guess this is Apple's way of built-in obsolescence, for your device to scratch up like crazy. Boo!
-Volume button. Finally!
-Built-in Nike+ transmitter. Why? This would've make more sense on the nano. The Touch is too big.
-Again, pricing is not aggressive enough. The benchmark is 8GB iPhone 3G for $199. The new 8GB Touch is still more expensive, $229. The great deal? Get a previous gen 8GB Touch refurbished from Apple for $179!
-2.1 firmware upgrade for all Touch. You still have to pay for it if you haven't upgraded from 1.x.
-Built-in speaker. There are times that I wish the 1G Touch have this. It's a nice addition.
-Nothing ground breaking or new as far as online capability. Meanwhile, Microsoft is doing some new things with the new firmware of the Zune.
-Now, the interesting one, is the fact that the upcoming earbud accessories have a mic on it. If Apple allow voice on the Touch, all we need is a VOIP app! F U AT&T!
-Again, IMO not that exciting, and not a must upgrade from 1G Touch, unless there is a VOIP app.
5. New earbud/in-ear bud with basic remote capability and mic, obviously to be usable by the iPhone too. The in-ear one has 2 drivers in each side. Sounds interesting, but I HATE the Y-cable design. It is NOT practical. I prefer the behind the neck design.
6. "New" colors for iPod shuffle
-Recycled colors from the 2006 2G shuffles. Boo!
-Are you kidding me? No price drop? You can get 2GB SD cards for less than $10 now. Any modern cellphone is good enough to be a basic DAP.
7. iTunes 8 impression:
-Genius, or should I say, Moron.
Okay, while I was typing this blog, the Genius feature in iTunes 8 finally finished "gathering information" from my library. It took quite sometime despite the size of my library being not that big at all. So, does it work? NOPE! Yup, it only works for "seed" tracks that it could find in the iTunes store, even for the playlist creation. STUPID! The playlist creation is supposed to create playlist from the music IN MY LIBRARY. Nothing to do with the iTunes store! Since I primarily have Eurobeat and J-Pop songs, Genius is baffled, and becomes a Moron. USELESS! At least from the few stuff it recognized, it listed new albums and tracks that I have not purchased yet. Great feature to see if there is a new release or not. As for playlist creation from "seed" that is available from iTMS, it's WAY OFF. The playlist does include tracks not in iTMS, but obviously it's not "smart" enough, obviously only basing stuff on the available tags. And then there are mis-recognized artists (J-Pop artist vs western artist). A very poor feature. I'm turning it off. Maybe it would work better once it gathers all the millions of iTunes users info.
-Grid view is similar to Events view in iPhoto 08. Skimming works, but IMO not practical for music. Cover flow is supposed to be the "better" version of this. I still prefer the list view, but now I cannot get rid of the genre listing. WTF? It's taking up space from the artist and albums list, and I always disabled it, but the option is gone now.
-The new visualizer is pretty slick. I never really like any kind of visualizers before, but this one is pretty cool!
If Apple would've included the Nike+ transmitter inside the new nano, I'll grab those in a heartbeat. Now, I have to think twice. The orange/yellow ones are calling my name, just for collection sake. Just like in Pokemon, gotta catch'em all.
As I expected, nothing spectacular from this event. The DAP market is reaching its peak and ceiling for features and innovation. The obvious next step is the merging of DAP and phone, thus Apple probably putting more effort on the iPhone. Microsoft will be faced with this issue in trying to design better online capabilities of the Zune, being the requirement of a web browser, thus the obvious result is marriage with Windows Mobile. Between now and September 2009, this is the best period for all the competitors to catch up with Apple, but yet again, everybody seems to be failing. Microsoft seems to be the only one taking the chance with some new firmware updates for their Zunes. Sony? Look at their even more meh lineup, and overpriced 16GB DAPs. Heck, they don't even release 16GB models for the new lineup in the US. Creative? Nobody cares about Creative anymore.
So, what's new?
1. iTunes 8
New album display, kinda like Windows Media Player. Nothing exciting. Genius? Remember the iTunes mini store that nobody uses/turn off? Well, consider genius as the 2.0 version of the iTunes mini store. Basically it gathers info of your library, automatically creates playlist based on the "seed" song, and offer recommendation from iTunes store. Currently it's taking quite a while "gathering information" of my library after the installation of iTunes 8. My take? Meh. Really, Apple has done their homework when they released iTunes, and the previous subsequent updates, to the point that there is no reason to fix something that is not broken. Now, I guess the focus is to sell more stuff from the store. HD movies finally on desktops too, previously only available on Apple TV. But meh.
2. iPod Classic
As predicted, to compete with the new Zune, it is now 120GB only for $249. Grab the 160GB while you can, it's on clearance for $299 only. Or for a great deal, get the previous 80GB Classic for just $199! Again, meh. Apple used to be the leader, now it seems that it is following Microsoft since the 120GB Zune is available before this event.
3. 4G iPod nano
Apple change the nano yet again.
-Finally full aluminum enclosure ala 2G nano.
-Glass screen cover.
-A LOT of colors! Are you watching this Sony? Me like orange.
-Price is not aggressive enough. Again, Apple used to be the leader, now it's not. 8GB DAPs have been available for $149 from the competitors for quite sometime. $199 IMO is kinda a hardsell, due to the same price of 8GB iPhone.
-The accelerometer is nice, auto turning screen. Sony, where's yours? You still have to rotate screen manually on Sony DAPs.
-Shake to shuffle. Huh? Sandisk's Sansa shaker anyone?
-Not enough features to justify an upgrade. IMO the 3G nano is excellent, aside from the scratchable chrome back. The 4G nano would have been more interesting if it has more aggressive pricing (8GB for $99/$129, 16GB for $149) and built-in Nike+ transmitter. Hey, they put the Nike transmitter in the new iPod Touch, but not the nano? Doesn't make sense.
4. 2G iPod Touch
-Curved back as expected, ala iPhone 3G
-Stainless steel back? I guess this is Apple's way of built-in obsolescence, for your device to scratch up like crazy. Boo!
-Volume button. Finally!
-Built-in Nike+ transmitter. Why? This would've make more sense on the nano. The Touch is too big.
-Again, pricing is not aggressive enough. The benchmark is 8GB iPhone 3G for $199. The new 8GB Touch is still more expensive, $229. The great deal? Get a previous gen 8GB Touch refurbished from Apple for $179!
-2.1 firmware upgrade for all Touch. You still have to pay for it if you haven't upgraded from 1.x.
-Built-in speaker. There are times that I wish the 1G Touch have this. It's a nice addition.
-Nothing ground breaking or new as far as online capability. Meanwhile, Microsoft is doing some new things with the new firmware of the Zune.
-Now, the interesting one, is the fact that the upcoming earbud accessories have a mic on it. If Apple allow voice on the Touch, all we need is a VOIP app! F U AT&T!
-Again, IMO not that exciting, and not a must upgrade from 1G Touch, unless there is a VOIP app.
5. New earbud/in-ear bud with basic remote capability and mic, obviously to be usable by the iPhone too. The in-ear one has 2 drivers in each side. Sounds interesting, but I HATE the Y-cable design. It is NOT practical. I prefer the behind the neck design.
6. "New" colors for iPod shuffle
-Recycled colors from the 2006 2G shuffles. Boo!
-Are you kidding me? No price drop? You can get 2GB SD cards for less than $10 now. Any modern cellphone is good enough to be a basic DAP.
7. iTunes 8 impression:
-Genius, or should I say, Moron.
Okay, while I was typing this blog, the Genius feature in iTunes 8 finally finished "gathering information" from my library. It took quite sometime despite the size of my library being not that big at all. So, does it work? NOPE! Yup, it only works for "seed" tracks that it could find in the iTunes store, even for the playlist creation. STUPID! The playlist creation is supposed to create playlist from the music IN MY LIBRARY. Nothing to do with the iTunes store! Since I primarily have Eurobeat and J-Pop songs, Genius is baffled, and becomes a Moron. USELESS! At least from the few stuff it recognized, it listed new albums and tracks that I have not purchased yet. Great feature to see if there is a new release or not. As for playlist creation from "seed" that is available from iTMS, it's WAY OFF. The playlist does include tracks not in iTMS, but obviously it's not "smart" enough, obviously only basing stuff on the available tags. And then there are mis-recognized artists (J-Pop artist vs western artist). A very poor feature. I'm turning it off. Maybe it would work better once it gathers all the millions of iTunes users info.
-Grid view is similar to Events view in iPhoto 08. Skimming works, but IMO not practical for music. Cover flow is supposed to be the "better" version of this. I still prefer the list view, but now I cannot get rid of the genre listing. WTF? It's taking up space from the artist and albums list, and I always disabled it, but the option is gone now.
-The new visualizer is pretty slick. I never really like any kind of visualizers before, but this one is pretty cool!
If Apple would've included the Nike+ transmitter inside the new nano, I'll grab those in a heartbeat. Now, I have to think twice. The orange/yellow ones are calling my name, just for collection sake. Just like in Pokemon, gotta catch'em all.
As I expected, nothing spectacular from this event. The DAP market is reaching its peak and ceiling for features and innovation. The obvious next step is the merging of DAP and phone, thus Apple probably putting more effort on the iPhone. Microsoft will be faced with this issue in trying to design better online capabilities of the Zune, being the requirement of a web browser, thus the obvious result is marriage with Windows Mobile. Between now and September 2009, this is the best period for all the competitors to catch up with Apple, but yet again, everybody seems to be failing. Microsoft seems to be the only one taking the chance with some new firmware updates for their Zunes. Sony? Look at their even more meh lineup, and overpriced 16GB DAPs. Heck, they don't even release 16GB models for the new lineup in the US. Creative? Nobody cares about Creative anymore.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Kamen Rider Kiva Ep30 Funnies
Otoya is just hilarious, and now Jiro is playing along. LOL! And of course, the scene that all fangirls will scream "kyaaa!" LOL!
Revisitting ripping audio CD on MacOS X
In Windows, my process in ripping CD is from EAC to WAV image + .cue to CDex to Lame MP3. On my Mac, I've been using Max to rip my CDs to WAV image + .cue, then XLD to encode to Lame MP3.
Max CD ripper is okay, but the musicbrainz tagging is close to useless. It never recognize any of my CDs. Now, XLD can rip CDs! Even better, people are saying it's secure, similar to the gold standard EAC. That means I can use just 1 program, XLD, to rip and encode CDs to MP3. I do notice that ripping speed is a bit slower vs Max. Another excellent thing about XLD is you can set the number of threads, useful if you have dual/quad-core processors. Setting it to 2 means XLD will encode 2 tracks at the same time, utilizing 2 cores, saving quite a bit of time. XLD seems to get frequent updates lately, which is good. Plus, it can patch itself now, no need to uninstall/re-install manually. Great program, and XLD is free!
Max CD ripper is okay, but the musicbrainz tagging is close to useless. It never recognize any of my CDs. Now, XLD can rip CDs! Even better, people are saying it's secure, similar to the gold standard EAC. That means I can use just 1 program, XLD, to rip and encode CDs to MP3. I do notice that ripping speed is a bit slower vs Max. Another excellent thing about XLD is you can set the number of threads, useful if you have dual/quad-core processors. Setting it to 2 means XLD will encode 2 tracks at the same time, utilizing 2 cores, saving quite a bit of time. XLD seems to get frequent updates lately, which is good. Plus, it can patch itself now, no need to uninstall/re-install manually. Great program, and XLD is free!
Friday, September 5, 2008
MacOS X Gotchas
Couple things I noticed when using my Macs in general.
1. Pairing Apple remote requires you to log-in as administrator. Yeah, it sounds stupid. I was trying to pair my Apple remote with my iMac to no avail. After reading Apple's document closer, apparently you have to log-in as admin.
2. Screen sharing doesn't stream audio output to the connecting computer. This is a bummer. With Microsoft Remote Desktop, the sounds produced by the windows client is streamed to my connecting Mac. Sure there's a delay due to the network, but it is useful in certain situations. Not the case with screen sharing. Gosh, for once Microsoft did things better than Apple.
1. Pairing Apple remote requires you to log-in as administrator. Yeah, it sounds stupid. I was trying to pair my Apple remote with my iMac to no avail. After reading Apple's document closer, apparently you have to log-in as admin.
2. Screen sharing doesn't stream audio output to the connecting computer. This is a bummer. With Microsoft Remote Desktop, the sounds produced by the windows client is streamed to my connecting Mac. Sure there's a delay due to the network, but it is useful in certain situations. Not the case with screen sharing. Gosh, for once Microsoft did things better than Apple.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Playing with Windows Vista
I got to play with a new Windows Vista 64-bit system.
Quick first impression:
-Why is it so hard to find out my IP address? In Vista, I have to open up the Network & Sharing center, and click on the small obscure "View status" text to get the same result as right clicking on the same icon and choose properties in XP.
-The "start menu" seems to take too much space. Sure, you can now type in the program's name in the search box ala Mac OS' spotlight, but the point of GUI is to point & click, not type. There is an option to use the classic start menu, but it's less pretty. I guess it just takes time to get used to.
-I wanted to enable AHCI on the BIOS. Bam, Vista gave me BSOD. WTF? Apparently it's a well-known issue. Follow what Microsoft says to fix it. (change the BIOS setting to IDE, do the registry edit, and re-enable AHCI). And yes, Vista still use the dreaded registry.
-Settings for simple things like changing screen resolution, uninstalling programs, etc seem to be scattered all over the place. Again, takes time to get used to from XP.
-UAC is super ANNOYING! Sure, OS X has the same system, but it never pop up as often as Vista's UAC. On the bright side, with OS X, I have to re-enter my admin name & password, while with UAC, as long as I logged in as an admin, all I need is to click the continue button. Still, it pops up too often.
-Start-up can be fast/slow. There are times when I rebooted the system, after going through the BIOS screens, the system seems stalled. No hard-drive access. At first I thought it crashed. I reset the PC, and bam, Vista yelled at me that it wasn't shut-down properly. Another time this happened, I waited, Vista loading screen later pops up. Dunno if this is the problem with Vista or the hardware.
-During the logging-in process, the desktop + icons almost instantly showed up after I entered my password! (Although I knew Vista is still loading by watching the hard-drive access and the tray icons loading one-by-one.) Still, it's a nice change. With XP, even on a fairly good system, sometimes it takes quite a while for Windows to show the desktop and load the icons.
-Too much eye candy. I like the transparency, but the fading-in/out is too annoying, and seems to "slow" down the UI as the fading speed is too slow. Good thing they can be disabled. Where's the TweakUI for Vista 64?
-Flip3D? Kinda useless. OS X's expose is much more useful.
-Windows update has its own app, no need to load IE first anymore. Yay! And Vista keeps track of the updates itself, so no more long waits for the Windows update website to figure out what updates I need, like it was in XP.
So, no wonder people are not liking Vista. It's quite a big change in the UI. Moving from 98 to 2k to XP is easy. Most of the settings are in the same place. Not with Vista. Whether it's for the better or not, who knows, but Windows 7 will highly likely follow the same setup as Vista, so I guess users better adjust to it.
One thing I learned from this process is about Firefox. I have Firefox on my Mac to save my login passwords. I want the newly installed Firefox on Vista to have the same info, without having me remembering/retyping all the passwords. Apparently it's just a simple file copy of 2 files. Read it here. Don't bother with extensions, etc that may/may not work. Just copy & paste the 2 files (key3.db & signons3.txt) and it's good.
So, why Vista? If you buy any new windows PC, you'll get Vista. No point in crying to get XP. No, I still use my iMac + Leopard. But there are things that are still best done on a windows machine.
1. Bittorrent. No uTorrent for Mac OS.
2. DVD ripping. DVDFab HD decrypter is a freeware for windows, and it's awesome. No solution exist yet for Mac OS.
3. Games. Yes, I do still have some PC games that I want to play.
Now, there are different flavors of Vista. I got the 64bit ultimate, and IMO everybody should at least get the business version. Why? Remote desktop and Volume shadow copy/previous versions. Neither of those are available with Home premium and Basic. Remote desktop is very useful in any setup that have more than 1 PC networked. Volume shadow copy/previous versions is a life saver! They're enabled by default, and doesn't require an additional drive (unlike Leopard's Time Machine). Only a couple hours into playing with the system, I already had to use the feature since I accidentally deleted some folders (I'm used to press shift+delete in deletin stuff in windows). IMO, MS should just make 2 versions of Vista, Ultimate as the Home version, and Business.
We'll see how it goes. So far, I think Vista is okay. The main barrier of entry is adjusting to the new UI and control panel stuff. After that, on a well equipped system (dual core, min 2GB of RAM, dedicated video card), I think Vista will run fine, and is the obvious next step of Windows before Windows 7.
Quick first impression:
-Why is it so hard to find out my IP address? In Vista, I have to open up the Network & Sharing center, and click on the small obscure "View status" text to get the same result as right clicking on the same icon and choose properties in XP.
-The "start menu" seems to take too much space. Sure, you can now type in the program's name in the search box ala Mac OS' spotlight, but the point of GUI is to point & click, not type. There is an option to use the classic start menu, but it's less pretty. I guess it just takes time to get used to.
-I wanted to enable AHCI on the BIOS. Bam, Vista gave me BSOD. WTF? Apparently it's a well-known issue. Follow what Microsoft says to fix it. (change the BIOS setting to IDE, do the registry edit, and re-enable AHCI). And yes, Vista still use the dreaded registry.
-Settings for simple things like changing screen resolution, uninstalling programs, etc seem to be scattered all over the place. Again, takes time to get used to from XP.
-UAC is super ANNOYING! Sure, OS X has the same system, but it never pop up as often as Vista's UAC. On the bright side, with OS X, I have to re-enter my admin name & password, while with UAC, as long as I logged in as an admin, all I need is to click the continue button. Still, it pops up too often.
-Start-up can be fast/slow. There are times when I rebooted the system, after going through the BIOS screens, the system seems stalled. No hard-drive access. At first I thought it crashed. I reset the PC, and bam, Vista yelled at me that it wasn't shut-down properly. Another time this happened, I waited, Vista loading screen later pops up. Dunno if this is the problem with Vista or the hardware.
-During the logging-in process, the desktop + icons almost instantly showed up after I entered my password! (Although I knew Vista is still loading by watching the hard-drive access and the tray icons loading one-by-one.) Still, it's a nice change. With XP, even on a fairly good system, sometimes it takes quite a while for Windows to show the desktop and load the icons.
-Too much eye candy. I like the transparency, but the fading-in/out is too annoying, and seems to "slow" down the UI as the fading speed is too slow. Good thing they can be disabled. Where's the TweakUI for Vista 64?
-Flip3D? Kinda useless. OS X's expose is much more useful.
-Windows update has its own app, no need to load IE first anymore. Yay! And Vista keeps track of the updates itself, so no more long waits for the Windows update website to figure out what updates I need, like it was in XP.
So, no wonder people are not liking Vista. It's quite a big change in the UI. Moving from 98 to 2k to XP is easy. Most of the settings are in the same place. Not with Vista. Whether it's for the better or not, who knows, but Windows 7 will highly likely follow the same setup as Vista, so I guess users better adjust to it.
One thing I learned from this process is about Firefox. I have Firefox on my Mac to save my login passwords. I want the newly installed Firefox on Vista to have the same info, without having me remembering/retyping all the passwords. Apparently it's just a simple file copy of 2 files. Read it here. Don't bother with extensions, etc that may/may not work. Just copy & paste the 2 files (key3.db & signons3.txt) and it's good.
So, why Vista? If you buy any new windows PC, you'll get Vista. No point in crying to get XP. No, I still use my iMac + Leopard. But there are things that are still best done on a windows machine.
1. Bittorrent. No uTorrent for Mac OS.
2. DVD ripping. DVDFab HD decrypter is a freeware for windows, and it's awesome. No solution exist yet for Mac OS.
3. Games. Yes, I do still have some PC games that I want to play.
Now, there are different flavors of Vista. I got the 64bit ultimate, and IMO everybody should at least get the business version. Why? Remote desktop and Volume shadow copy/previous versions. Neither of those are available with Home premium and Basic. Remote desktop is very useful in any setup that have more than 1 PC networked. Volume shadow copy/previous versions is a life saver! They're enabled by default, and doesn't require an additional drive (unlike Leopard's Time Machine). Only a couple hours into playing with the system, I already had to use the feature since I accidentally deleted some folders (I'm used to press shift+delete in deletin stuff in windows). IMO, MS should just make 2 versions of Vista, Ultimate as the Home version, and Business.
We'll see how it goes. So far, I think Vista is okay. The main barrier of entry is adjusting to the new UI and control panel stuff. After that, on a well equipped system (dual core, min 2GB of RAM, dedicated video card), I think Vista will run fine, and is the obvious next step of Windows before Windows 7.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Go-On Silver's swimsuit photo DVD
Well, as expected, super sentai provides entertainment for all ages. LOL.
Sugimoto Yumi, aka Miu/Go-On Silver.
Her official site.
Sugimoto Yumi, aka Miu/Go-On Silver.
Her official site.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thailand's Sport Ranger
Found it via Youtube, Thailand's local super sentai, 2006.
Aside from seemingly out-of-place CGIs, looks quite corny (reminded me of super sentai series in early 80s), but at least it's original, unlike the stupid Power Rangers.
On the bright side, there is a rumor that Power Rangers is going to be animated, alias a cartoon. That could mean no more super sentai bastardizations! AWESOME! Alas, there is another thorn growing, the Kamen Rider Ryuuki copycat, stupid Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.
Aside from seemingly out-of-place CGIs, looks quite corny (reminded me of super sentai series in early 80s), but at least it's original, unlike the stupid Power Rangers.
On the bright side, there is a rumor that Power Rangers is going to be animated, alias a cartoon. That could mean no more super sentai bastardizations! AWESOME! Alas, there is another thorn growing, the Kamen Rider Ryuuki copycat, stupid Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.
Go-Onger Ep27 Funnies
Well, cross-dressing is commonplace in Japan entertainment/cosplay, so I guess it's time to teach the kids. LOL!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tropic Thunder Viral Video Promo
Everybody seems to like Tropic Thunder. I've seen the regular trailer, but this one is funnier, although it got "urrgh" in the end. So warning, the first half or so is pretty funny, but beware of the end.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
iMovie 08: Further Impression
I've been using iMovie 08 quite a bit lately in making music video and video clips.
Stuff that I like:
-Audio fade-out bug fixed. In iMovie HD, whenever I want to do an audio fade-out (during transition, in the end of the video, etc), for whatever reason, iMovie HD frequently chokes and the audio stutter. At first I thought this is only on the project/preview, but the stutter is permanent, included in the final video. Highly annoying. I have yet to have this issue in iMovie 08, and iMovie 08 handles audio fade-outs almost automatically most of the time.
-I love the youtube uploading automation a lot. Makes things much easier and more straightforward.
-Adding and editing the duration of transitions feels easier and more straightforward. Again, iMovie HD sometimes chokes on transitions for whatever reason.
Annoyance:
-iMovie 08 doesn't recognize non-native videos (xvid) after importing, even if you cut them using QTpro and have .mov container and/or installed the codec support for Quicktime (ie. perian). I had to export the xvid clips to H.264. A way to promote QTpro? QTpro IS useful in cutting down xvid videos and exporting the clips to H.264, so you don't have to wait iMovie 08 transcoding the whole large xvid video.
Stuff that I missed from iMovie HD:
-Effects! There are TONS more effects and transitions in iMovie HD, even advance effects like faster/slower video speed. iMovie 08 has no advance effects, and only basic transitions.
-Editing texts feels easier and more straightforward in iMovie HD. It's confusing to edit the text in iMovie 08 outside the preset ones.
-Timeline view. One time I want to start working on a video clip in iMovie 08 starting from the end of the backgroud music and working towards the beginning. No can do. iMovie 08 snap the video clips in ascending order from the beginning of the backgroud music, and I can't find a way to snap them to the end of the music. The timeline view of iMovie HD gives more flexibility in creating a project.
In short, I wish Apple improved and fixed the bugs of iMovie HD instead of making iMovie 08. Sure, iMovie 08 makes editing videos more user friendly, but once you get the hang of it, you start feeling limited and wanting more (transitions, effects, timeline view, etc). I guess that's Apple's way to sell Final Cut express/pro.
Stuff that I like:
-Audio fade-out bug fixed. In iMovie HD, whenever I want to do an audio fade-out (during transition, in the end of the video, etc), for whatever reason, iMovie HD frequently chokes and the audio stutter. At first I thought this is only on the project/preview, but the stutter is permanent, included in the final video. Highly annoying. I have yet to have this issue in iMovie 08, and iMovie 08 handles audio fade-outs almost automatically most of the time.
-I love the youtube uploading automation a lot. Makes things much easier and more straightforward.
-Adding and editing the duration of transitions feels easier and more straightforward. Again, iMovie HD sometimes chokes on transitions for whatever reason.
Annoyance:
-iMovie 08 doesn't recognize non-native videos (xvid) after importing, even if you cut them using QTpro and have .mov container and/or installed the codec support for Quicktime (ie. perian). I had to export the xvid clips to H.264. A way to promote QTpro? QTpro IS useful in cutting down xvid videos and exporting the clips to H.264, so you don't have to wait iMovie 08 transcoding the whole large xvid video.
Stuff that I missed from iMovie HD:
-Effects! There are TONS more effects and transitions in iMovie HD, even advance effects like faster/slower video speed. iMovie 08 has no advance effects, and only basic transitions.
-Editing texts feels easier and more straightforward in iMovie HD. It's confusing to edit the text in iMovie 08 outside the preset ones.
-Timeline view. One time I want to start working on a video clip in iMovie 08 starting from the end of the backgroud music and working towards the beginning. No can do. iMovie 08 snap the video clips in ascending order from the beginning of the backgroud music, and I can't find a way to snap them to the end of the music. The timeline view of iMovie HD gives more flexibility in creating a project.
In short, I wish Apple improved and fixed the bugs of iMovie HD instead of making iMovie 08. Sure, iMovie 08 makes editing videos more user friendly, but once you get the hang of it, you start feeling limited and wanting more (transitions, effects, timeline view, etc). I guess that's Apple's way to sell Final Cut express/pro.
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