Time for another Mac Montage!

Rather than focus on a single topic or software application, I include a number of different hints and tips, all intended to help you get the most out of your Mac!

Removing Duplicate Photos from iPhoto : Following on from last week, as promised, I take a look at a relatively inexpensive utility that allows you to purge your iPhoto library of duplicate photos. I explore the most effective methods of using Duplicate Annihilator and importantly, cover how to safeguard against finding false duplicates, along with some suggestions for double checking your results. Links: Duplicate Annihalator (25% off using CPN7756165310)
QuickLook Plugins: Introduced in Leopard, QuickLook allows you to see the contents of all sorts of files directly from the Finder, just by tapping the space bar. Apple have made the QuickLook architecture extensible allowing third party developers to create custom QuickLook plugins. In this section, I take a look at a great web resource for Quicklook Plugins, along with how to install and configure them. I also cover the installation of three free sample Quicklook plugins - BetterZIP, Photoshop Brushes and Suspicious Packages. Links: QuickLook Plugins Website
The Zoom Button in OS X: The source of frustration for many Mac users especially switchers from Windows. What on earth does the "Zoom Button" actually do? Why doesn't it maximize the screen when that's all that I want it to do! The reasons behind the usual behaviour of the Zoom button are explained in this section along with a handy little tip on how to resize the iTunes window without it turning into a mini player - don't you hate it when that happens! In addition, if you really hate the standard behaviour of the Zoom button, I show you how to install a great free utility that changes the the default behaviour of the Zoom button to a "Windows like" maximise button. Links: RightZoom
Security “On the road”: In this fourth and final section, I take a look at some of the considerations you need to bare in mind when traveling with your laptop. I look at some easy tips on making your laptop more secure, tips which can also be applied to desktop machines too. You don't have to follow all the suggestions but the section covers most of the basics to make your machine more secure when travelling. Links: PGP TrueCrypt

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Trailer for the Members Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes



Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

The third and final part of the mini series on "Managing Multiple Macs" (which may be continued at a later date!)

This week, I take at look at how I manage organising and moving my digital images and videos between my laptop and desktop Mac.

As well as the multitude of applications available to use to work on our digital assets, we are faced with an ever expanding number of gadgets and gizmos that enable us to create images and video too. So as well as how to move your digital images and video around, I also take a look at "Cameras" - a simple yet ingenious preference pane application that allows you to configure exactly what happens when you plug your digital devices into your Mac, albeit open iPhoto, Aperture, iMovie, automatically download or even, just do nothing at all.

I also take a look at using external hard drives as an option to swap iPhoto libraries between machines, as well as a third party application called "iPhoto Library Manager". This brilliant application allows you to copy images between separate iPhoto libraries using simple drag and drop, as well as allowing you to merge complete iPhoto libraries.

To finish off, there's even a short section on moving Aperture projects between machines.

Links:
Cameras,
iPhoto Library Manager (15% off using JVVDD0XTFLMIG1CN)
Duplicate Annihilator (25% off using CPN7756165310)

Recent Podcasts:
The Mac Roundtable (Episode #67),
The MacJury (Episode #910)

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	960x540 - HD with overscan 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this show plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes




Watch the free show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

Time for yet another Mac Montage this week!

Rather than focus on a single topic or software application, I include a number of different hints and tips, all intended to help you get the most out of your Mac! A fairly mixed bag included this week, with some simple and some more complex hints and tips.

Photo Location Information Updates: Apple have introduced some handy new features to help you assign location information from photos taken with the iPhone across to photos taken with a normal "Non-GPS" enabled camera. This tip shows you what is involved and also takes a look at a simpler way to move a locations pin to provide more accurate placement on your iPhoto maps.!
Spurious Zooming on MacBooks: Whilst I love the multi-touch gestures on the new unibody MacBooks, there is one that drives me to distraction, and that's zooming in Safari and Mail. This only seems to affect those of us used to the older MacBooks with the single button, where we used one hand for clicking the button and the other for moving the mouse. It's really hard to relearn not to use button finger and on the new MacBooks, this leads to inadvertent zooming in Safari and Mail. Very annoying. Well as Apple don't provide a way to turn this off, one enterprising coder decided to create an InputManager to disable this function. This tip shows you how to install this InputManager and retain your sanity! Links: Original Instructions
Creating Symbolic Links with Automator: I've looked at this technique before of using DropBox to syncronise application data using symbolic links. One of my favourite applications has now been enabled to use this technique, and that's TextExpander. Rather than show you the typicalway of implementing this, I stumbled upon some third party Automator actions that remove the need for typing long commands into terminal to set this up. Links: Automator Actions Manual Instructions
Monitoring Disk Usage: This segment features two of my favourite utilities for seeing just where all that precious disk space has gone - GrandPerspective and OmniDiskSweeper. Both utilities do the same job of showing you which files and folders are taking up the most space on your drive, but each has a different approach on how the data is presented. I take you through both utilities and describe how I use each one. GrandPerspective OmniDiskSweeper

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	This show is only available to ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Trailer for the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes



Watch the free trailer of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

---

A bit sooner than expected, but this week I couldn't wait to show you PLEX, a stunning media centre application for Intel based Macs running OSX Leopard. This follows on from the recent Mac mini Media Centre episode, where I started the process of using the newly upgraded Mac mini as a full blown media centre. PLEX is based on the original code for the XBMC (XBox Media Centre) but has forked into a separate development specifically for Intel based Macs running OSX Leopard.

Now that the Mac mini supports full High Definition playback, PLEX allows you to manage your Movies and TV shows with a beautiful high resolution interface. With some sophisticated "scraping" technology, PLEX seamlessly integrates with a host of Internet based services to add rich textual and graphical metadata to your media automatically with full support for DVD artwork, ratings and even Fan artwork. With a multitude of selectable views, browsing your media collection has never been such a joy.
With the introduction of the PLEX Media Server, PLEX now integrates with your local iTunes and iPhoto libraries, giving you access to your music and photos without any additional configuration, it just works.

Rounding off and already impressive suite of functionality, PLEX also has a plugin architecture allowing third party developers to create plugins or applications to access external web based video and photo services directly from PLEX. Available and installable from within PLEX itself, within minutes you can have direct access to such services as HULU, BBC iPlayer, 4OD, Ted Talks, The Daily Show and many other streaming video services (geographic limitations may apply for some services). The full show covers:

• Sharing Media Files on a Network
• Installing & Configuring Plex
• Calibrating Plex for Overscan TVs
• Audio Setup
• Adding & Watching Movies
• Adding & Watching TV Shows
• Music & Pictures
• iTunes & iPhoto Integration
• Selecting & Installing Applications

Links: Plex, Automated Home Video

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats

1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this trailer plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes




Watch the free version of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below

Update for MacBreak Weekly listeners: As promised on MacBreak Weekly #128, I’ve made a specially modified version of this Extra! members show available, The full members show is available in HD with video chapter marks for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy this weeks show!


Following on from last weeks show about iPhoto '09, I've been playing some more with Places. There is something fascinating about being able to see the exact place on a map where you took a photo. Surprisingly, it also makes it so much easier to organise and find your photos as well.

I was so impressed, I seriously started to consider how I might geotag photos in the future, especially with my forthcoming MacMania9 trip to China, South Korea and Japan in the summer. Yes, I could manually geotag my photos when I get back but I'll probably be taking lots of photos (hundreds?) and I won't really know where exactly I am at any particular time.

No, I thought I'd have to bite the bullet and consider a GPS enabled camera!

But after a flurry of questions and answers via Twitter, it became apparent that there is a much less expensive solution to allow me to accurately geotag my photos. That's to use a GPS Data logger to capture my GPS location and just carry on using my existing camera, combining the GPS data and the images on the mac. Super!

Things got even more interesting when it was pointed out that there is an application for the iPhone 3G that enables it to act as a GPS logger - all for the princely sum of £1.79!

Well I downloaded the app Trails - A geologger for iPhone (geotagging) - App store link - and gave it a whirl and was thrilled with the results.

Basically, you use Trails on the iPhone 3G to track your position whilst you're taking photos with a normal digital camera. Email yourself the resultant GPS waypoint file when you're finished and use an application called HoudahGeo* to combine the GPS date with your photos and you're done! Import the photos into iPhot '09 and they appear in your Places section with accurate positioning information.

So this week, I couldn't resist sharing this little gem with you, and went out on a mini ScreenCastsOnline roadrip to take some photos of two famous Liverpool landmarks. In the show I take you through the complete process from start to finish demonstrating Trails, HoudahGeo and iPhoto '09.

There is also a little tip to enable you to switch on scroll wheel and multitouch support in iPhoto '09 plus a quick pointer to some recommendations for dedicated GPS Trackers if you want to do some serious Geotagging.

* There is a special ScreenCastsOnline discount available up until the end of February 2009. Just use the coupon code SCO0186 to get 20% off HoudahGeo.

The terminal command to enable the scroll wheel and multi-touch support in iPhoto is:

defaults write com.apple.iphoto MapScrollWheel -bool YES

Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats

1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Special MacBreak Weekly Version of the Show



Watch the special MacBreak Weekly version of this show from this web page by clicking on the videos below


Back to other Apple tutorials

---

iLife '09 is here!

Even though I've only had the package a couple of days, how could I not resist doing a show this week about one of the applications in the newly updated iLife '09 suite. Some significant enhancements across the board but I decided to focus in on the new features of iPhoto '09. Apple have introduced two brand new features into iPhoto '09 and added in some great updates to some old favourites, along with additional integration with two of the worlds most popular social networks (FaceBook and Flickr)

The two major enhancements are Faces and Places

Faces allows you to finally undertake the task of correctly tagging your photos by identifying the people in them - automatically. Apples stunning implementation of face detection and recognition, allows you to correctly identify all the people in your iPhoto library to search and organise thousands of photos. In the show, I take you through the steps of setting up faces with some hints and tips on how to optimise faces detection and recognition on your photos.

Places brings location information to your photo library. If your lucky enough to have a GPS enabled camera or phone (such as the iPhone), iPhoto '09 will analyse the location information contained within each photo and automatically place your photos on a map for easy viewing or searching. If you already have GPS information in your existing photos, it's all done for you automatically. If you don't have such data, iPhoto '09 also allows you to add in location information manually to your existing photos with integration with Google Maps.

This weeks full members show covers:

• Preparing for iLife '09
• Setting Up Faces
• Optimising Faces Recognition
• Setting Up Places
• Adding Places to Events and Photos
• Using Map and Column Views
• Deleting and Correcting Location Information
• Editing in iPhoto '09
• Red Eye Correction

This weeks show is also extended for Extra members and includes an additional section covering:

• Creating Dynamic Slideshows
• Exporting Slideshows
• Setting Up FaceBook Integration
• Syncronising Face Tags between iPhoto and FaceBook
• Setting up Flickr Integration
• Discussions: Forum

Extra! Members Version formats	1280x720 - Full HD Resolution 1280x720 - Full HD Resolution with overscan 960x540 - HD Resolution 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution All versions with embedded chapter markings and available via iTunes, Miro or by direct download from the Extra! members site
Free Version Formats	960x540 - HD with overscan - Download 640x480 - iPod and iPhone Resolution - Download.

Become a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! Member
Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

To View the Full Free Show
Subscribe to either the free versions of the shows in iTunes, and have this show plus subsequent free shows delivered to your computer each week by clicking the links below!
Free High Definition version of the show in iTunes or Free iPod version of the show in iTunes


Watch a low resolution version of this show by clicking the image below:


Back to other Apple tutorials

---

Well it's finally here, along with iWork 08, and surprise, surprise, you don't need Leopard!

Apple have released iLife 08 and I couldn't resist quickly running through some of the main changes to all the applications, even though I'd only had a few hours to play with it.

In this week's show, I take you through the installation with some extra tips for iWeb users. Once installed, there's a quick introduction to all of the apps with a little more in depth look at iMovie 08.

The good news is that there is tons of material here for new screencasts so expect to see more detailed screencasts on all the iLife 08 applications along with iWork 08 over the next few months!

This is a full free show (but only in 640x360 with no chapters for non members). As mentioned in the show, I'll try and do at least one show a month on one of the new versions of the iLife apps (and iWork) but they won't all be free shows. To get the full set, you'll need to be an Extra! member.

Discussions: Forum

Extra members get access to full versions of the show in AppleTV (HD), ED and iPod resolutions.
The free show (or trailer) is at a much lower resolution.
Click here for more details on becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member

Back to other Apple tutorials

---

This week I thought I'd bring you the third part of the iPhoto hints and tips series of shows. The two main areas left were surrounding Keyword Management and Library Management so this weeks show looks at a couple of free applications and takes you through some different options for sharing your iPhoto library. The show covers:

Using Keywords in iPhoto
Keyword Assistant
Using Multiple iPhoto Libraries
Sharing an iPhoto Library between multiple users on the same machine
Sharing an iPhoto Library between multiple users on different machines

This particular show is one of the monthly Extra! member only shows, so you need to be an Extra! member to access the full show. Extra! membership also brings you such benefits as the next 6 months worth of shows in HD, access to Members only content plus immediate access to over 90+ screencasts from the ScreenCastsOnline archive. All for a ridiculously low one-off payment. Checkout this link for more details.

Discussions: Forum

---

Part 2 in a short series on one of the most popular applications in the iLife '06 suite. I wanted to follow on from Part 1 published last year with a look at Slideshows and Books. So this weeks show looks at:

Configuring iPhoto for Quick Startup
Creating iPhoto Slideshows
Adding Music to Slideshows
Exporting to iDVD and Quicktime
iPhoto Books
Exporting to iDVD, Quicktime and PDF
Appearance Tips
Enhancing the Red Eye and Retouch Tools

Also this week is another first in that I asked for hints and tips from the ScreenCastsOnline viewers in advance of the show, so I could incorporate them into this weeks show and give out a few name checks.

The response was so good, I'll probably have to do a part 3, but I promise not to leave such a long gap this time!

Thanks to all those who responded and if your tip isn't in this show, you never know, it may be in the next!

Discussions: Forum

---

Well here it is! The very first ScreenCastsOnline Extra! only show. The show follows on from the extremely well received show from last week covering GarageBand and looks at the new iPhoto 6 - part of the iLife 06 suite (Duration 28 mins)

The show covers...

iPhoto 6 Basics including Importing Photos, Editing, Organising Photos, Using Keywords, Smart Albums

New iPhoto functions including Photocasting and Full Screen Editing

Integration with Flickr including exporting to Flickr, FlickrExporter plugin and off line Storage

Flickr integration shows you how you can use a free Flickr account to act as an offline storage facility to backup all your iPhoto photos. It also touches on using Flickr to share your photos with friends and family if you haven't got (or don't want to pay for) a .mac account.

Future shows will examine other functionality within iPhoto such as iWeb integration, calendars, photobooks and iDVD integration and we'll also be looking at a full show dedicated to Flickr.

Discussions on this weeks episode can be found on the ScreenCastsOnline forum here

Back to other Apple tutorials

---