Brill, have found a simple Paint program for the Mac that is similar to Windows Paint.
http://www.techmixer.com/paintbrush-free-mac-osx-paint-program/
Great for simple cut and paste jobs.
Friday 16 July 2010
Saturday 27 March 2010
Feeling podcastically stupid
Just when I thought I understood podcasts, the whole thing comes and bites me on the backside.
I learned at an event how to make an enhanced podcast using Garageband, so I thought I could just add pictures to a track, export to iTunes and stick it in my ipod. Indeed, Di Dawson's moletv video makes it look as easy as that.
http://moletv.org.uk/watch.aspx?v=MYQJU
Nope.
You have to publish it via iWeb to get a podcast channel and then it seems the only way to make it all work is to submit a podcast to iTunes, which i have done. I have no idea where to find it on the iTunes store, but here's the subscription link which I copied from iTunes when it was helping me to set it up. http://web.me.com/xlearn/Site/Podcast/rss.xml
Now I understand that to make something a podcast, you need to put it somewhere that generates an RSS feed. Initially, I thought, I'll upload the file to posterous.com and subscribe to that feed through iTunes, and surely that will work?
No, again. I can get the audio file ok, but not the pictures (chapters, markers...the thing that makes it an enhanced podcast, I guess)
So the question is, if I wasn't using a Mac, how do I make an enhanced podcast and how do I get that to become a podcast that will show the pictures?
I learned at an event how to make an enhanced podcast using Garageband, so I thought I could just add pictures to a track, export to iTunes and stick it in my ipod. Indeed, Di Dawson's moletv video makes it look as easy as that.
http://moletv.org.uk/watch.aspx?v=MYQJU
Nope.
You have to publish it via iWeb to get a podcast channel and then it seems the only way to make it all work is to submit a podcast to iTunes, which i have done. I have no idea where to find it on the iTunes store, but here's the subscription link which I copied from iTunes when it was helping me to set it up. http://web.me.com/xlearn/Site/Podcast/rss.xml
Now I understand that to make something a podcast, you need to put it somewhere that generates an RSS feed. Initially, I thought, I'll upload the file to posterous.com and subscribe to that feed through iTunes, and surely that will work?
No, again. I can get the audio file ok, but not the pictures (chapters, markers...the thing that makes it an enhanced podcast, I guess)
So the question is, if I wasn't using a Mac, how do I make an enhanced podcast and how do I get that to become a podcast that will show the pictures?
Thursday 25 February 2010
My thoughts about the HTC Hero, a Google Android phone:
OK, not about the Mac, but I'll be exploring the differences between the Android phone and the iPhone (and maybe Windows Mobile) and I want to put this somewhere out there but not yet on my main blog until I've firmed it up.
So, HTC Hero:
1. Slow to start up.
2. Fiddly sim card holder
3. I like the keypad - the way you can hold down a letter to get the alternative character, but I missed the magnifier on the iPhone that shows up to help you get your cursor right where you want it.
4. Downloading apps on the phone is really simple, similar to the iphone
5. like the fact that i have been able to download my fav game of mahjong for free!
6. won't sync with my macbook :-(
7. Tilt action on one of the games I downloaded was really lame compared with the iphone and winmob phone. not sure if it's just the game or the handset/software.
8. Takes 2 buttons to get to multiple browser windows and then only lets you have up to 4 open compared to the iphone.
9. The battery life was poor and there wasn't proper Bluetooth implementation - I couldn't print to the pogo printer (mind you, the iphone probably can't either)
I used it for about 3 weeks, and then switched back to the iPhone. The Android interface feels like a different version of Windows Mobile, but not necessarily improved. The hardware just isn't as responsive as the iPhone and in the end, that's the main thing that has made me switch back.
So, HTC Hero:
1. Slow to start up.
2. Fiddly sim card holder
3. I like the keypad - the way you can hold down a letter to get the alternative character, but I missed the magnifier on the iPhone that shows up to help you get your cursor right where you want it.
4. Downloading apps on the phone is really simple, similar to the iphone
5. like the fact that i have been able to download my fav game of mahjong for free!
6. won't sync with my macbook :-(
7. Tilt action on one of the games I downloaded was really lame compared with the iphone and winmob phone. not sure if it's just the game or the handset/software.
8. Takes 2 buttons to get to multiple browser windows and then only lets you have up to 4 open compared to the iphone.
9. The battery life was poor and there wasn't proper Bluetooth implementation - I couldn't print to the pogo printer (mind you, the iphone probably can't either)
I used it for about 3 weeks, and then switched back to the iPhone. The Android interface feels like a different version of Windows Mobile, but not necessarily improved. The hardware just isn't as responsive as the iPhone and in the end, that's the main thing that has made me switch back.
recent tips
I tend to use search to find applications I want to launch etc. Magnifying glass in top right hand corner.
Useful mixed pile of tips:
1. F3 on my mac shows all open windows.
2. Four fingers on the trackpad and swipe up shows you desktop, swipe down shows all open windows and across allows you to do the equivalent of alt tab.
3. Fn up and down arrow to page up and down on browser
4. Firefox plus dwhelper add on allows you to download flv files from places like YouTube. Will even convert directly to mp4 sometimes. Can't work out why it works sometimes and not others.
5. Handbrake is a good app for converting flv to mp4 for the iPhone.
6. Two fingers glide up and down on trackpad for scroll...
The one thing I can't abide is the way macs handle downloaded files. Or even saving of files to another folder. You have a limited list of recently accessed folders and no way to browse the entire hard disk to choose where to store stuff. So often, I have two finder windows open - one with the downloaded file in Downloads folder, and the other to browse to where I want to move the file to. Pain in the backside.
Useful mixed pile of tips:
1. F3 on my mac shows all open windows.
2. Four fingers on the trackpad and swipe up shows you desktop, swipe down shows all open windows and across allows you to do the equivalent of alt tab.
3. Fn up and down arrow to page up and down on browser
4. Firefox plus dwhelper add on allows you to download flv files from places like YouTube. Will even convert directly to mp4 sometimes. Can't work out why it works sometimes and not others.
5. Handbrake is a good app for converting flv to mp4 for the iPhone.
6. Two fingers glide up and down on trackpad for scroll...
The one thing I can't abide is the way macs handle downloaded files. Or even saving of files to another folder. You have a limited list of recently accessed folders and no way to browse the entire hard disk to choose where to store stuff. So often, I have two finder windows open - one with the downloaded file in Downloads folder, and the other to browse to where I want to move the file to. Pain in the backside.
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