Aperture 3.0.1 update
by thomas ~ March 1st, 2010
From http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2518:
This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3, including (abridged):
- All the features we added with this new version…
- Some existing features that didn’t really work all that good anymore with the new version…
- and much more.
And, before I forget, does it make a difference? It did for me, most notably, my loading time was improved and browsing through the pictures was snappier.
I have some remaining face detection running and its using a fair chunk of cpu (130%+). Also just having Aperture sit idle takes up about 850mb+ memory.
Aperture 3 first impressions
by thomas ~ February 11th, 2010
So my copy arrived today and I just finished installing it.
I won’t go so far as to call this a review since there are much more knowledgeable people out there to do that, but I do want to share some initial impressions I have at first launch.
My setup for using Aperture 3: Macbook Pro 2.2GHz C2D, 4Gb ram, 120GB HD. I have about 4500 RAW pics of which most (80%) of them are stored on a WD MyBook Studio via FW800.
- At first launch you are presented with the library upgrade screen which I started. Total upgrade took 41 minutes as the only program running (and since it hogs most of your cpu and memory while it does this it makes it pretty clear it wants to stay the ONLY thing running).
- First question after launch: Would you like to see your photos on a map? I answered yes. Activity window showed it took about 2 min for 250+ pics
- Activity window also shows the ‘Faces Detection’ running for my pics, and as of writing this blog is still going. From the time it has taken up till now I estimate its going to take about the same as upgrading.
- While all of this is going on browsing your pictures is slow, but that might improve once the initial setup actions are done. I’ll update this post once I know.
- There are dedicated Facebook, MobileMe and Flickr buttons at the top which when pressed prompt you to setup your account, I pressed the flickr button which launches the browser and directs you to flickr where you authorize the Aperture Uploader. I set it up and here is a link to my flickr upload from Aperture
**UPDATE**
Also checkout this bloggers experience with Aperture 3:
http://ishotalot.com/2010/02/turning-the-other-cheek-on-apertures-faces/
Easily moving your ‘Mobile Applications’ folder
by thomas ~ December 21st, 2009
Since my iPhone app folder started to become quite substantial (4.5GB +) I wanted to move these files without a lot of hassle.
It should be noted that my iTunes configuration is somewhat different due to the fact that I use Libra (http://www.sillybit.com/libra/) to manage a few different libraries on my Mac.
Since I already had all the audio and video files stored on an external drive I just needed to find an easy way of doing the same thing with my applications.
This is what I did:
- Move the ‘Mobile Applications’ folder to my external drive
- Open up iTunes to find that iTunes can’t find the files anymore and has no way batch changing all the links to the new location.
- Spend some time looking online
- Spend some more time not finding a simple solution
- Getting an idea for my own solution
- Creating an ‘alias’ folder by option-command dragging the copied Mobile Applications folder to the original location of the folder (in my case ~/Music/iTunes) and making sure the name says Mobile Applications
- restarting iTunes to find it’s having no problem finding the files and everything working like it should.
So there it is.. It was as easy as moving the folder and creating an alias in the original location, at least for me this worked…
Update: It seems the above steps led to my entire app library being copied to the iPhone (including the ones that I had previously removed but still had in the library). This could be because I restarted iTunes after copying and removing the original folder before I created the alias. So just keep in mind, that this could lead to you having to reselect which apps you want to copy to the iPhone, or like I’m doing in my case, take this opportunity to start removing the ones you don’t want to put on there anymore.
New Development Horizons – Getting into iPhone Dev
by thomas ~ December 16th, 2009
Today I enrolled into the iPhone Development Program. Since I have no objective C, C++ or C- knowledge I looked for tools beforehand in order to make the step into development simpler.
I found a couple:
- Titanium Developer | appcelerator.com
- PhoneGap | phonegap.com
- Corona | anscamobile.com
Now the difference between PhoneGap, Titanium and Corona is that both PhoneGap and Titanium are tools to help you write iPhone apps based on html and javascript including many of the popular libraries (prototype, mootools, jquery, etc.) thereby essentially removing the learning curve of iPhone dev for web designers. Also both are free downloads.
Corona on the other hand is a different matter all together. It let’s you write in Lua. Therefore Corona does have a learning curve, but (keep in mind I don’t know enough about iPhone dev to say this with complete certainty ) might provide more advanced development possibilities.
As of now I will start out using PhoneGap, and when things go smoothly and I have the time to mess about with the Corona Trail Download I might even purchase the Corona Package ($99) and use that since the Lua language seems logical and easy to learn.
I’ll post regularly with updates regarding my Dev journey.
Deals on Mac software
by thomas ~ March 20th, 2007
These are a few sites that offer discounted prices on great mac software:
MacUpdate – macupdate.com/promo
Yet another ‘must have’ mac software list
by thomas ~ March 20th, 2007
What makes this list different from other lists? Nothing!
These are apps I use on a regular basis. Some are free some are not and are listed in no particular order.
Free & Open source Apps:
- TacoHTML Edit (tacosw.com) – Simple, effective, fast HTML, PHP and CSS editing – FREE
- Camino Browser (caminobrowser.org) – Mozilla powered browser in the Mac style – FREE
- VLC VideoLan Client (videolan.org) – Video player that practically play and stream anything in most formats – FREE
- MPEG Streamclip (squared5.com) – Must-have for video editing – FREE
- ClipMasterCM (abracode.com/ClipMasterCM) – ClipMasterCM allows you to save clipboard content on your computer hard drive for later access. You may compile a collection of clips which will be available for pasting in any application via contextual menu – FREE
Shareware & Commercial Apps:
- Disco (discoapp.com) – CD Burning with lots of features and nice smoke effect – $29.95
- Yummy FTP (yummyftp.com) – Fast and simple FTP Client – $25
- VisualHub (techspansion.com/visualhub) – Fast conversion from nearly every video format to iPod, PSP, DV, DVD, Tivo, AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG and Flash – $23.32
- More to come later
