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Welcome to Macintosh (Film Review)

I watched the documentary film “Welcome to Macintosh” and I liked it.

fanboi squeeee!
Photo by Alan Holding

I know… you’re like “No duh! Mr. Fanboi, of course you loved it!” but hey, I’ve got issues with Apple, and they do plenty of things I don’t like (they always have) but using computers created by Apple has been a part of my life for 30 years now… I don’t think there is a brand around I’ve been involved with for that long… well, been involved with, and haven’t grown to hate.

If you’ve been using Macs for a long time and been fascinated by Apple, or an actual fan, it’s worth watching. On the other hand, if you are a recent convert from the Windows world, and new to the Mac in just the past few years, it’s probably not for you. (But if I’m wrong, let me know…)

Welcome to Macintosh Screening
Photo courtesy of Nik Fletcher

One thing I feel wasn’t really touched on is that in the past few years Macs (and other Apple products) have become “lifestyle” items, where in the past I don’t think this was the case. The film did mention that in the mid-to-late 1990’s it was hard to be a Mac user. Damn straight it was… I was deep into it. I worked at a design firm/publishing company where we had tons of Macs, and seeing the unknown future of the Mac (and Apple!) back then was not easy. By the end of the lifecycle of Mac OS 9 (pre-OS X) I was almost ready to abandon the Mac. I was using FreeBSD as a server OS, and Windows was making in-roads and actually getting better… If the NeXT/Apple thing hadn’t happened, and Mac OS X hadn’t come along, things would have been dismal.

Looking back today, it’s easy to say that Steve Jobs and Mac OS X were the saviors of Apple… and I don’t know how much my design background plays into it, but I really do want to use beautiful, well designed things, and that’s where Apple shines, and in true Apple sense, design refers to how things work, and how they function on the inside, just as much as they refer to how things look on the outside.

So my recommendation of the film is, if you’ve used/liked/loved the Mac for 10 years or more, see it. You’ll find it fun, amusing, and informative. If you admire Apple as a brand, see it, as there’s some valuable insight into design and marketing that the Microsofts of the world will never get right. If you’re a die-hard Microsoft lover or Windows user… or hey, a Linux/open source dude… it may not interest you quite as much.

I mean… I liked it, but I guess I’m just an Apple fanboi… ;)

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Time Lapse Bot

Behold… Time Lapse Bot!

Time Lapse Bot

No, this is not a wikibot… it’s the Time Lapse Bot, built out of old, recycled material, it is capable of doing time lapse captures using a sophisticated Apple iMac Computer, with an XLR8 InterView USB Video Capture Device connected to an old JVC Video Camera sitting on an old chair base which allows it to easily wheel around (within the length of the power cord.)

I actually spent $0 putting this all together, if you don’t count the fact that I paid about $499 for the video camera 10+ years ago, and $99 for the InterView back in 2005. Pretty much everything else was somehow attained for close to nothing. I could add wifi to this thing if I had a USB hub lying around, which might make it just little bit more neat-o, but hey, It’s a work in progress…

I’ve been testing it a bit this weekend, but the real test will come at BarCampMilwaukee4.

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Your New Desk

Welcome Back! Jerk...

Now GET TO WORK!

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Video Installation (Part II)

If you remember my quest for a decent video installation, here’s the conclusion.

We ended up getting a TV with VGA input, and connecting an old PowerMac G4 to it. From there I loaded videos into iTunes and played them full screen. One problem, iTunes does not support looping in a video playlist. The solution: make a “smart playlist” which contains your videos, as smart playlists do support looping. I just tested this, and it all seems good.

Thanks to all who made suggestions. If you’re interested in seeing the display, and are available the evening of Friday, September 12th, 2008, let me know…

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Video Installation

So we’re working on a video installation and we’re planning on putting up a big LCD TV, and want to be able to show photo slide shows and video on it.

Our first thought was, get a DVD player and connect it to the TV (behind the wall as the TV will be mounted flat or recessed to the wall) and we would then author DVDs and play as needed. This could work, but we’re then looking at the DVDs being standard definition versus high definition. So while this option is cheap, and somewhat easy, the quality would be low. (And burning HD or Blu-ray DVDs is not something we are currently doing.)

We also thought about connecting an old G4 to the TV. We currently have a G3 connected to an LCD monitor doing the photo slide show thing, and connecting a G4 might work, but we need to deal with actually connecting it to a TV, which would probably have HDMI but not VGA, and VGA would probably look like crap.

So, I’m starting to think an AppleTV, at $229 is the best option. It’s pretty much built to do what we want. We could manage the content through iTunes and the AppleTV interface, and make playlists that could loop, and… am I missing anything?

Update: It seem you can’t make playlists that loop on the AppleTV, which is a “WTF!?” type moment when people hear that…

Update See Video Installation (Part II)