Recently, a hack was developed that finally gives Mac users access to the content stored on their TiVo, a service that TiVo had promised but up to now has only allowed to PC users with TiVo-To-Go. I decided to take a look at the latest developments of this hack, for personal playback on my Mac.

A Quick Lay of the Land

The original hack is a command-line / Terminal tool, credited to Jeremy Drake and a number of other contributors, dubbed “tivodecode.” From there, a good how-to was written by Dave Zatz, and although it was written well, the method isn’t exactly user-friendly. From there, other folks put together some Automator actions, droplets, etc, but there’s only one that I’ve seen so far that actually works like a Mac app, and that’s TiVoDecode Manager, by David Benesch.
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I wanted to bring something a little different to my readers, because I felt it would be the right thing to try and entice you away from your screens for a little while. Spending hours in front of your Mac is a fine way to spend your day, but can induce back ache and eye strain if you overdo it. So, why not pick up a copy of ‘How to Get Rich – by Felix Dennis’.

Now, I am not a massive reader, but two things drew me to this book, firstly the title, as I wouldn’t mind a bit (or a lot) of extra money, but secondly the man behind the book. We have all heard of the publication ‘Mac User’ and some of us may have seen ‘Personal Computer World’ on the shelf, well these are just a few titles by Dennis Publishing, founded in 1973 by Felix Dennis. He sold the two magazines and made millions and continues to do so in various ways.
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Here are a few hopefully useful and informative Mac-related links found both on the MacCast and elsewhere on the series of tubes.

Let’s take a look…

via the MacCast:

• MacCast Episode 170

• Scott gives us his thoughts on Digital Convergence.

• Andrew tries out a new CD/DVD burning Mac app called Disco.

• Adam talks with Doug Bell on the PreviewCast.

• Cynthia lets us know about an update to AppZapper, ver. 1.8.

• Charles says MacHeist is promoting Independent Mac Developers.

• MacCast Episode 170

via the Interweb:

• Yet Another Birthday Importer (YABI): a beta tool that gives Mac users more flexibility with sending important Address Book dates (like birthdays and anniversaries) to iCal. It has a simple user interface, creates read-write calendars (unlike the built in iCal features), and makes the exporting very easy.

• notMac Challenge: If you’re like me, you’ve become weary of paying $99 a month year (thanks Jim!) for the Apple neglected dotMac service. So was the person who setup the notMac Challenge, who is asking the developer community to develop a dotMac substitute, and has setup a bounty-pledge system for the like-minded. I think it’s a great idea, but I was a little concerned about accountability. I’ve emailed the creator to try to find out more, and I’ll post more in the comments, but for right now—buyer (or donator) beware. (linked from MacWorld).

• iTunes is in a slump, no it’s not. Darn, just as I was writing a long post on how Podcasts have replaced iTunes music purchases—I know they have for me!

• Gizmodo: iPhone this Monday, Dec. 18, Brian Lam says, “I guarantee it.” Note: he doesn’t say that “the iPhone” or that it’s from Apple, or if it’s a phone. And doesn’t Apple tend to release products on Tuesdays?

AppZapper 1.8, an application that allows you to uninstall any application, widget, preference pane or plugin was released. When you drag and drop an application to be uninstalled onto AppZapper, it goes through the system to delete preferences, caches and support files that many applications generate when they are launched. This latest version runs on Mac OS X 10.4 and above.

The 1.8 version of AppZapper includes the new UnZap feature. If you accidentally zap an application you can use the UnZap feature to restore the application and its related files. In addition, there are improvements to the zapping engine, support for zapping on localized systems and authentication for non-admin users.

All current users of AppZapper can update for free.

You can buy AppZapper for the low price of USD$12.95. The Family Pack which registers all members of the same household sells for USD$18. A free shareware version that allows you to zap five times before you are required to purchase the software is also available. If you would like more information about AppZapper or would like to purchase it visit www.AppZapper.com

Apple thinks you should try their digital photography program Aperture. They think if you try Aperture that you will like it. They believe that so strongly that they want to let you try it free for 30 days.

Manage thousands of images with complete control and flexibility. Sort through shoots and choose selects in record time. Make professional-quality adjustments with simple, powerful tools. Whether you shoot RAW or JPEG, Aperture puts everything you need into one unrivaled application. Try it free for 30 days—and don’t worry, Aperture never changes a pixel of your originals. So start today, experiment with abandon, and see how simply amazing your photography can be.

Download your free copy here

This episode I’m discussing object oriented editing. Now, at first, that may sound a lot like programming and I did steal the term from object-oriented programming but the core idea is the same. Take a larger project and break it down into smaller reusable chunks. By dividing a project up into discrete sections it can make the project easier to manage. So how do you break a video project down into smaller reusable chunks?

Each project type determines how well this technique works, but it can be especially beneficial to event videographers. Let’s look at shooting a wedding as an example. A wedding can typically be organized into several distinct sections:

Pre-ceremony
Ceremony
Reception

Additionally there could be a pre-wedding party where the families meet.

Pre-ceremony can be divided into: Preparations and Set up, the Newlyweds and Wedding Party Getting Ready and Photos.

The reception can be broken down to: Arrival and Mingling of Guests, Arrival of the Newlyweds, The Dinner, Toasts, First Dance, Cutting of the Cake, Garter Toss, Bouquet Toss, More Dancing and Fun, Guest Interviews, The Departure of the Newlyweds, and Post Reception Madness.

What’s nice about this is that most weddings pretty much follow the same format. So, shoot one wedding and edit it together and you have a template for the next wedding. This can also work for Birthdays, Retirements, Bar/Bat Mitvahs, Roasts, etc.

Because Final Cut Pro treats sequences as if they were video clips, create individual sequences for each discrete component or section of the project, and combine the component sequences together in a final master sequence. This can streamline the editing process, as each component sequence or “object” can be edited more quickly with greater focus.

When working with a group of editors, each sequence can be assigned to a different editor and combined by a supervising editor, again creating a more efficient workflow. Another benefit is when changes are made. In most cases, only the component sequence needs to be adjusted. Changes made to the individual sequences are automatically updated in the master sequence.

Once a project is set up this way it can be used as a template for similar projects. So for the next wedding (or other event) project open up the previous Final Cut Pro project and save a copy. Import the new footage and use replace edits to replace the old material with the new material. A few title and style changes later the project is ready for output. This helps finish event projects more quickly, allowing you do do more events per year.

This technique may not work equally well for all projects, but if you think about how the project is organized and how it can be broken down into smaller bites, it can definitely help make editing faster and more fun.

See you next episode.

Just in the past few days, the digital protections (or DRM) in which TiVo wrapped its recorded programming were defeated to allow the content to be played on a consumer’s networked device of choice. And I’m sure I’m not the only member of the MacCast community who has been waiting for the TiVoToGo functionality, but I’m excited at the possibility of watching even more recorded content on the go.

What I find interesting is that in the few days since this hack was made available, some previously held DRM hostages are wishing they had never been freed.
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Over the years Ambrosia Software has made a number of great games (and utilities) for the Macintosh and the company has done it again with its latest creation Sketchfighter 4000. Ambrosia describes the program this way:

Remember those super-cool space ships you doodled on graph paper in Middle School? Pen strokes furiously waging massive intergalactic battles in History class with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance? Well they have sprung to life in SketchFighter 4000 Alpha!

I know the sketches they are talking about although in my case I drew them on a chalk board and not in my school binder. It is magical to see these sketches come to life. I love the look of the program. I love that when you destroy an enemy it leaves a smudge on the screen as if you had erased the drawing incompletely. I have not mastered the game yet, but look forward to trying.

I’m sorry, but this is going to be a bit of a rant…here goes.

Today’s article in the Financial Times titled Studios push anti-piracy rules on Apple reports that the studios are pushing for tighter copy-controls on Apple’s iTunes movie distributions. They write:

After months of discussion, a sticking point has emerged over the studios’ demand that Apple limit the number of devices that can use a film downloaded from iTunes.

And in the very next paragraph, FT.com states that the studios want to avoid piracy—demanding that Apple introduce a new distribution model for movies.
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Much has been made of the delays in getting Adobe’s mission critical pro apps, including Photoshop, onto the Intel platform, a gating item for many PowerPC Mac users considering the move to Intel. The other software category experiencing major delays for MacIntel ports, perhaps slightly less mainstream, is that of audio plug-ins and software synthesizers.

Audio plug-ins are programs that run inside a host program, such as Logic or Garageband, and in many cases in “standalone mode” as well. Without major contortions, it’s fairly impractical to run PPC plug-ins inside an Intel-based host program and nearly impossible to run both PPC and Intel plug-ins in the same host at the same time (see this discussion thread on BigBlueLounge for a workaround that involves some third-party software). Plug-ins typically generate audio (by making sounds), transform audio (e.g., by adding delay or compression), or both, and represent a substantial after-market for the big audio programs
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