Jim Heid's Mac iLife 09 Site

How to Photograph Fireworks

2009-07-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time, as the US Independence Day nears, photography magazines and Web sites run articles on how to photograph fireworks.This year is no exception.Have a safe and happy July 4, no matter where you live!

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Photojojo's Guide to Kodachrome

2009-06-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

The always-wonderful Photojojo e-newsletter has a tribute to Kodachrome, the venerable slide film that Kodak is going to be discontinuing.I haven't shot a roll of Kodachrome in at least ten years, but I shot many hundreds of rolls of it before that. Now I'm inspired to scan those old slides.There have been a lot of great homage-to-Kodachrome...

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Field-Testing the Camera in the New iPhone 3GS

2009-06-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

How good is the camera in the new iPhone 3GS? Quite good.This shot, which illustrates the tap-to-focus controls in the camera, is particularly impressive.

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Free Sound Effects and Motion Backgrounds

2009-06-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

Tired of using the same old sound effects in iMovie? Want some exotic new backgrounds for your iMovie titles or iDVD menu backgrounds?A company called FootageFirm is giving away massive collections of sound effects, stock video footage, and motion backgrounds. They're charging $8.41 (USD) per DVD for shipping, but other than that, there doesn't...

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20 Easy Techniques For Improving Your Photos

2009-06-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

Popular Photography's 20 Easy Techniques For Improving Your Photos is a nice little collection of, um, 20 easy techniques for improving your photos.

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The Complete Guide to iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone and iPod touch

2009-06-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

The folks at iLounge have assembled a detailed look at the new features in Apple's iPhone OS 3.0.I'd love to get an iPhone 3GS when they ship, but it appears that AT&T has me over a service-plan barrel until July of 2010.If only phones didn't require phone companies. Sigh.

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The Book Ships Soon; Site Updates in Progress

2009-06-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

As the iLife '09 edition of my book rolls off the presses, I've started making some updates to this site.For starters, I've updated the About page to include PDFs of the book's table of contents and a sample spread.When the book ships, I'll post more excerpts. *Excited*. :-)Share the joy: pre-order your copy.

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Grab Jeff Carlson's Free iDVD Chapter

2009-05-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

My friend and colleague Jeff Carlson is giving away the iDVD chapter of his book, iMovie '09 and iDVD Visual QuickStart Guide.Jeff is a long-time Mac and technology journalist and the managing editor of the legendary TidBITS newsletter. He has also helped me revise my book for the last couple of editions, expertly tackling the iMovie and iDVD...

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Improve the Readability of Any Web Page

2009-05-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

Don't like to read long articles on the Web? You aren't alone.Readability relief is at hand, thanks to an incredibly cool tool named, incredibly enough, Readability.Using it couldn't be easier. Make some settings (the default settings worked fine for me), then drag its button up to your browser's bookmarks bar.When you arrive at a Web page...

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Tonight at 7 pm Pacific: Interview with Visionary Dan Bricklin

2009-05-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight at 7 pm Pacific time, I'll be interviewing computer industry pioneer and visionary Dan Bricklin, who in 1979 co-created VisiCalc, the world's first electronic spreadsheet program.You can listen online. I'll also post an archive of the show in the next day or two.

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Expert Tips on Photographing Your Pets

2009-05-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has a nice little article on photographing pets. Which is one of my favorite activities.

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Lighting: Green Scheme for iMovie '09 Fun

2009-05-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Popular Photography's site has a nice little piece on a $249 lighting kit that looks perfect for use with iMovie '09's new green-screening feature (you know, that feature that lets you do the "weather forecaster standing in front of a map" thing).The Photo Basics uLite Video Lighting Kit includes two lights with softboxes (which, true to their...

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10 Online Photography Magazines

2009-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

The always-delightful Photojojo has compiled a list: 10 Online Photography Magazines We Love.Lots of great exloring here.

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HD Pocket Camcorders Go Head-to-Head

2009-05-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

PCWorld.com has a comparison of six high-definition pocket camcorders.I adore my old Canon Elura miniDV camera -- it's one of the first ones they made, and it's built like my dad's old Bell & Howell 16mm movie camera, all heavy and rugged. (It does not, however, have a spring-wound motor -- now that would be a cool thing to have in a digital...

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Great GarageBand FAQ

2009-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

While wrapping up revisions on the GarageBand chapter of my iLife '09 book, I came across a great GarageBand FAQ.Lots of good stuff here.And speaking of GarageBand, don't miss this nice sampler showcasing GarageBand's incredible new guitar and stomp box simulators.

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Free Music Archive: Free (and Legal) MP3s

2009-04-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

ZDNet's "The ToyBox" blog recently posted an item about free MP3 music tracks.WFMU, one of America's most renowned freeform radio stations, recently launched FreeMusicArchive.org. Still in beta, the site does just as the title says: provides a treasure chest of free music.Looks great. Check it out.The home stretch. I've been needing lots of music...

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iMovie and the Uncooperative Camera

2009-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

My Macworld colleague Chris Breen provides some tips on getting AVCHD-format high-def video into the Mac for use with iMovie '09.

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iMovie 8.0.2 Update Available

2009-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this, as I've been traveling and wrapping up revisions to the iLife '09 edition of my book. (Almost there!)Anyway, Apple has posted an update to iMovie '09. The update, in Apple's words, "fixes an issue with projects having a size of 0 KB. Attempting to open these projects would cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly at...

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Gizmodo On Why We Need Audiophiles - Audiophiles

2009-04-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Completely fascinating article on audiophiles -- we're talking $350,000 stereo systems here -- from Gizmodo.I still like my iPod, but now...well...

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20 Photography Twitters Worth Following

2009-04-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Oprah apparently isn't the only person using Twitter. Popular Photography puts forth a list of the top twenty photography Twitters worth following.

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Tips for Care and Feeding of Camera Memory Cards

2009-04-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

A friend had a nasty bout of photo loss this week -- one of her memory cards suddenly acted wonky when she tried to download photos from it, forcing her to turn to all manner of panicky recovery techniques.Fortunately, her story looks like it will have a happy ending. Along the way, I came across a great set of tips for taking care of memory...

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Crazy Cans: The 10 Wackiest Headphones

2009-04-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

PC World's web site has a cute little photo gallery on the ten wackiest headphone designs.I do believe I'd kill for a set of those AKG K1000s. They cost $1200 when new.

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Face Recognition

2009-04-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

It isn't perfect yet.

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Muddy Waters at the Fillmore

2009-04-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

I love Wolfgang's Vault, an incredible collection of hundreds of live concert recordings from the legendary concert promoter Bill Graham.Right now, I'm bobbing my head like the fool that I am while listening to a Muddy Waters Blues Band concert recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in 1966.Here's one track for your listening pleasure....

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Curing iPhoto-to-Flickr Woes with Keychain Access

2009-04-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Getting "authentication errors" when trying to publish from iPhoto '09 to Flickr? I was, too, after I'd "revoked" iPhoto's Flickr-access privileges within Flickr while testing something for the next edition of my book.The Apple discussion boards have the solution: use the Keychain Access utility (in your Utilities folder, within the Applications...

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