What is it?

The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader that allows its users to download new content without the need of a computer. E-book readers have been around for years, but they never quite took off with consumers. However, what sets the Kindle apart from Sony’s e-book readers is the built in Sprint EVDO.  This allows the device to not only surf the web, but download all kinds of books, newspapers and magazines off of Amazon’s online store.

The Story

Several months back, online retail giant Amazon.com released the Amazon Kindle as their first e-book reader. It sold quickly as people thought it was great to be able to not only store hundreds of books, but also to be able to download those books wirelessly. The Kindle has been on the market since November, and has been in many ways, a huge hit for Amazon.

The Good

To start off, the screen is absolutely amazing. My eyes never strain, and it almost feels as if you are really reading from a paperback book. When you need to purchase a book, you simply enable the EVDO and browse the usual online Amazon store until you find something to your liking. There are thousands upon thousands of books, newspapers and magazines to choose from, and they download directly to the Kindle without the need of your Mac or PC. However, if you are ever outside of the US, you will have to connect the Kindle to your computer.  The reason being that you can’t tap onto any CDMA networks.

The Bad

The design is pathetic. Amazon really needs to rethink where they placed some of the buttons. I constantly find myself pressing the “next page” button on accident, which is rather annoying. Once you do push the next button, it takes just over a second to refresh the screen. However, I do praise Amazon for putting in a home button. The black and white screen is amazing for books, but it looks awful when browsing web pages and reading blogs. The power and the wireless switch are located behind the unit, and are very incontinent to access when the Kindle is in its included case.

The Verdict

What sets the Kindle apart from other e-book readers is the fact that you can download new content on the go; whether you are near a wifi hotspot or not. Its screen is a definite plus when it comes to reading novels on the device, and subscribing to newspapers is just $14 a month. I would love to see the Kindle drop below $250, and I would adore some sort of subscription book service. But if you can afford the hefty price tag, learn the odd UI, and use hundreds of books in your bag, then the Amazon Kindle is just what you ordered.

Back in 2004, Realmac software released the first version of its popular RapidWeaver web development software.  Since its initial release, it has won many awards from Mac publications all around the globe, and still continues onward with that trend.  Just a couple months ago RapidWeaver 4 hit the streets, and is already changing the way consumers create websites.  From its more professional iWeb-like templates to its ease of creating pages, RapidWeaver 4 is sure to be an instant hit for people who want a simple way to create professional looking websites.

Make a Site.

It couldn’t be any easier. You simply click file > new project, and a new project will form. Once you complete that, whenever you want to add another page, you simply click the button in the top left hand corner.  It will ask you what kind of page you want - From Blog and Photo pages, to Blank and Contact pages as well. Simple as that. You can now choose from the abundance of themes that RapidWeaver has to offer, or you can download more themes form the Realmac website. Editing your site is also very easy and straightforward. You simply hit the edit button to edit the photos and text on the current page, and if you want to see a preview of your site, just click preview to see a version of your site as it were already online.

Publish a site.

To publish your website you created with RapidWeaver, you press the publish button.  From there you are presented with two methods of publishing. You can ether publish using your own domain name, or using your MobileMe account (previously dot Mac). You then fill out the form, and click publish.  Within a few minutes you have a professional looking website.

Features.

You can adjust almost anything you want about your website, whether it be the font, or coloring a section of a theme.  It’s all at your fingertips. Navigating through RapidWeaver is a breeze. It’s so simple, straightforward, and professional. The buttons are laid out perfectly, and the menus are super easy to use and customize.

Overall.

I love RapidWeaver 4. It’s so simple to use, and it gives me better results than iWeb ever will. With RapidWeaver 4, you can finally make sites with ease, and have them looking as if they were designed by a professional graphic artist. I would definitely recommend giving RapidWeaver a try, and seeing just how well your website comes out. You can try RapidWeaver for free for up to 30 days. My only gripe is that RapidWeaver 4 can only be used on a Mac running OSX 10.5 Leopard. RapidWeaver 4 retails for $79, but can be found on Realmac’s website for $59 for a limited time.

Happy Weaving!

I’m still hard at work finishing up a NZ national computing course, hence the lack of recent blog activity. In the mist of an eventful past few weeks, I’ve sorted a solution to something which has been on my mind for quite some time, a reliable active photo storage system complete with a backup.

The Hardware

I now have a thee tiered system which incorporate Lightroom as the image management tool. The system is made up by three pieces of hardware. The MacBook Pro, Seagate Freeagent 250GB USB drive, and LaCie Porsche 250GB Firewire 400 drive.

The System

My active 2008 library is stored on the MacBook Pro’s internal HDD. Previous years folders (2006 & 2007) are sitting on the Seagate Freeagent 250GB USB drive. When 2009 comes around, the 2008 folder will be archived on the Seagate drive, on a continuous cycle.

Both the active 2008 library and the archived images get backed up onto another 250GB drive, the LaCie Porsche Firewire 400.

I’m relatively happy with how the system shapes out. I have my current years worth of images on hand wherever I am with the MacBook Pro and access to older archived images is provided by the very portable Seagate Freeagent USB drive. While backups are hosted on the reliable LaCie Porsche drive at Firewire 400 speeds for snappy regular backup sessions.

I feel the tag-line “next generation gamer” is far past its use by date, instead I now prefer the tag “current generation gamer” for those adopting a new console such as the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Nintendo Wii.

This Christmas I picked up an Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is one console I’ve had my eyes on since it was introduced. The Playstation 3 really didn’t capture me as much as the 360, down to a few different reasons.

There was a brief period where I never touched games on any platform. when I first picked up my Playstation 2 I was quite keen on picking up the controller on a regular basis, this quickly faded away and for the past two years I’ve neglected video games. I wanted to make a re-entrance with all the great new games on the market and the new and developing technologies powering the systems.

When comparing the two consoles (360 & PS3), I looked at two main aspects. The online gameplay, and overall game catalogue. I feel the Xbox 360 leads the PS3 in both of these areas, Xbox Live has been perfectly executed. Along with gamertags, achievements, and all the other features packed under the hood, Xbox Live appears as if it’ll stretch the lifeline of games with all the added content and gameplay abilities over the service.

The exclusivity of the game catalog is currently won by the 360, mainly due to the age of the console compared to the recently released PS3. There are a few games on the 360 which really caught my eye and further stretched my preference over the PS3. 80% of my game catalog I had on the Playstation 2 were solely racing/sport games. I have never got into the whole FPS (first person shooter) scene.

This trend has continued with the first handful of games I’ve picked up for the Xbox 360. Including Skate, FIFA 07, Forza 2, Top Spin 2, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007. On the list of games I’d like to pick up include NBA Live 2008, Madden 2008, Grand Theft Auto 5 (on release), and Call Of Duty 4. See the developing trend?

I’ve been very impressed with the console to date after owning it for a week. If there’s any negative points I had to find, it’d be the excessive noise and heat the system creates while in use, and the lack of ability to create a wireless network connection right out of the box. I don’t like the idea of having to drop another $175 NZD on the Wireless Network Adaptor. I’m thoroughly enjoyed playing friends over Xbox Live, and I think it’s this feature alone which will end up introducing me to the world of FPS games such as Halo 3 and Call Of Duty 4 as my friends push me closer and closer to purchasing them for Xbox Live battles.

This won’t be the last I’ll be writing about the Xbox 360. There’s still so much more for me to discover and play with.

For all those who asked, my gamertag is “Glenn Wolsey”.

Those involved in any kind of video work will be able to relate to the grueling chore of long encoding sessions, especially if you’re not on an exceptionally quick Intel based machine. Video encoding takes time, hogs your machines resources, and is a long and tentative task.

I’m lucky enough to own a powerful dual-core MacBook Pro now which makes encoding videos for my show an easy process. However on my old Intel iMac this wasn’t the case. Videos took an age to encode into different formats, while the process left something to be desired. Enter the Elgato Turbo.264, saving your sanity, and your wallet from having to shell out for a quicker machine for faster video encodes.

The Turbo.264 can essentially be thought of as an extra processor which can be used externally on your Mac. It plugs into any free USB port and acts as a second (or third in the dual-core MacBook Pro’s case) processor solely for the purpose of video encoding. Once plugged in and installed it will show up when exporting in Quicktime, iMovie, iDVD, and the Final Cut suite. How much faster does this device process videos that than your current Mac, well, it all depends on what exactly your current Mac is.

If you’re running a newer and more powerful Intel based machine, results will not be as astonishing as when using the Turbo.264 on a G4 or a G5 based Mac. I’ve done a little testing a few different machines (Intel only).

When exporting a 2 minute, 19 second long MP4 clip from Quicktime to the Apple TV format without the device installed, I received these encoding results:

- Mac Pro 2 x 2.66Ghz - 58 seconds.
- MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz - 61 seconds.
- iMac Core Duo 1.83Ghz - 74 seconds.

However when the device was plugged in and enabled, I was presented with these more than acceptable results:

- Mac Pro 2 x 2.66Ghz - 53 seconds.
- MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz - 59 seconds.
- iMac Core Duo 1.83Ghz - 67 seconds

Michael Mistretta asked if the Turbo took the load off of the MBP’s processors while encoding. In answer, yes. The second advantage of the Turbo is not only faster encoding speeds, but the ability to free up your main CPU. This made the MacBook Pro run quicker, and cooler than it would have when not using the device.

Overall I’ve been very impressed with the Elgato Turbo.264. Will I miss it? Not terribly, because I feel my MacBook Pro is quick enough to export video in able time, but if I was stuck with any other slower Mac, I believe I’d miss the device a considerable amount more. My advice, if you do any video related work and don’t have a state of the art Intel Mac in your office, you couldn’t invest $100 in any better way.

I recently set out on a mission to track down an excellent 2.1 speaker system to hook up to my MacBook Pro for continuous playback of music through iTunes, and other various entertainment requirements.

I’d heard a lot of good things about Altec Lansing’s FX6021 range, and had played with them a few times within the confines of an Apple Reseller. However the noisy and crammed environment is not necessarily the place to put speakers to the test, I had to make a ‘deaf’ decision.’

I decided to finish my long search for speakers and just purchase them, if they were awful, I could always sell them. Once they arrived, the word awful wasn’t even in my vocabulary, the speakers are outstanding, to the point that I would refer to them more as a ‘sound system’ than multimedia speakers.

Sound Quality & Density

When the FX6021s started pushing out audio the first thing which blew me away was the super high density and ‘punch’ of the music, it sounds very luxurious. The ability to fine tune the Bass and Treble setting to your liking is a much appreciated feature.

The system has 5 volume levels, I’m generally listening to music on the first level, occasionally kicking it up to the second. Anything past two and you’re getting into something I’d like to call the ‘party setting,’ ideal for blasting music through a large noisy area. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to have them accidentally turned up to level 4 or 5 when kicking up iTunes first thing in the morning, unless you’re sending out a wake up call for your neighbors.

I’ve been very impressed with how quickly I can change settings to adapt different styles of music. Generally I leave bass and treble two bars off the top - set to the mid level the bass it delivers is really thumping, I’ve been told time and time again to turn the bass down due to excessive thumping, not necessarily a bad thing.

Design & Overall Environment Blending

Residing next to a 30�? Apple Cinema Display the two speakers look impeccable. They match the ‘Apple environment’ very, very well. I assume these would look as amazing when hooked up to a MacBook or one of the newer aluminum iMac’s.

The subwoofer sits conveniently under my desk, it’s not massive, though it’s not small. I’d recommend checking if you have enough room on the ground near your workstation to place it, as you’ll get much better sound quality with it on the floor than sitting on top of your desk.

Included in the box is both a wireless remote, and a desktop controller. The desktop controller is used for controlling volume, treble, bass, and power - while also providing you with a headphone port to isolate your sound into a pair of headphones should the need arise. The desktop controller would be amazing if it was wireless, sadly, it’s not, meaning it’s a little restrictive to where you can place it on your desk - not a huge problem, just a little grudge. If Altec Lansing had anything they could improve on, that’d be the one thing I’d push forward.

The design of the speakers, sub, desktop controller, and remote are all perfectly in sync. The system is very well polished and looks very professional in any setting.

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, I’ve been more than impressed with the system. I would highly recommend these to anyone who is looking for a suitable and compact sound system to hook up to your system for music, DVDs, and other media playback.

They have been a dream since day one, I really didn’t know how bad the audio on any other sound product I own was until I was treated to these. A must have addition to your setup is a good sound system, make these your choice.

As Apple has become more involved with mobile media, they’ve developed a strong connection with Google integrating YouTube into their line of products. The integration of YouTube they’ve mapped in on the iPhone, iPod touch and the Apple TV is impressive - their connection with Google has increased in strength and reach as the year has passed, I’m very excited to see where it’s going to head in the future.

In a thoroughly thought out decision, I recently settled on YouTube as the main resource to spread my video show because of the increasing widespread compatibility over different platforms and devices. Apple partnering up with YouTube really makes it hard for competitors to get into the market, with YouTube regaining exclusive iPhone and Apple TV deals providing widespread exposure for YouTube publishers.

Putting it in perspective, if you were to publish a video to the web, would you prefer to upload it to YouTube where you have millions of potential viewers from all over the world, via computers, the Apple TV, the iPod touch, and the iPhone within minutes uploading it, or alternatively, would you prefer to upload it to a smaller video site to retain a somewhat ‘better’ community feeling?

I chose the larger community with the more widespread viewer base. Sites like Vimeo initially attracted me due to their tightly knit community feeling, though the pulling power of Apple + Google’s YouTube made my decision for me. YouTube appears as if it will provide a much more stable base for my videos in the future.

Here’s this weeks overview of the latest videos published to YouTube and iTunes on The Glenn Wolsey Show.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

iPod Touch 8GB Or 16GB

Jan asked which iPod touch is the best value, 8 or 16GB. I bought the 16GB so it’d last me a little longer, what about you?

Watch iPod Touch 8GB Or 16GB on YouTube.

Mac Compatible Displays

Which display is the best value to purchase along side the Mac Pro. I recommend a Dell 24″ display if you’re on a budget. I also demo the cool swivel feature of the Dell screens.

Watch Mac Compatible Displays on YouTube.

Thoughts On Apple’s New Keyboards

I’ve received countless questions regarding different keyboards over the past three weeks. In this video I go over my views of the new Apple Keyboards, and the Logitech diNovo Edge. My new Apple Wireless keyboard just shipped too, looking forward to that arriving.

Watch Thoughts On Apple’s New Keyboards on YouTube.

iPod Shuffle Case Giveaway

I’m giving away three iPod Shuffle 2nd generation cases to three of my 300 YouTube subscribers. Subscribe on YouTube to win - when I hit 300 I’ll announce the winners. Keep in mind I already have prizes lined up for future giveaways, including a larger scale one..

Watch iPod Shuffle Case Giveaway on YouTube.

Here’s this weeks overview of the latest videos published to YouTube and iTunes on The Glenn Wolsey Show.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

20 Or 24 Inch iMac

Jim was asking if he should purchase the 20 or 24″ iMac, and whether he should wait until Leopard is released to purchase the machine.

Watch 20 Or 24 Inch iMac on YouTube.

Max RAM For Mac Pro

One question I get asked a lot is how much RAM can the Mac Pro really handle, The Apple website says 16GB, I say 32GB.

Watch Max RAM For Mac Pro on YouTube.

Why I Have More Than One iPod

Jan Osti asked why I have more than one iPod. Since recording this episode I’ve sold all my iPods bar the iPod shuffle, and ordered a 16GB iPod touch.

Watch Why I Have More Than One iPod on YouTube.

Which Mac Laptop To Last A Long Time

Chris wanted an Apple laptop which will last him a long time, and not be outdated quickly. I suggested the current 2.4Ghz 15″ Santa Rosa MacBook Pro.

Watch Which Mac Laptop To Last A Long Time on YouTube.

Here’s this weeks overview of the latest videos published to YouTube and iTunes on The Glenn Wolsey Show.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

New iMac or Upgrade Old iMac

Kiro wanted to know if he should upgrade his current G5 iMac and purchase some goodies, or purchase a brand new Intel iMac.

Watch New iMac or Upgrade Old iMac on YouTube.

MacBook Pro Purchasing Queries

Mark had some questions regarding the current MacBook Pro. His questions included is 4GB of RAM worthwhile, and if updates are expected to the notebook line in the near future.

Watch MacBook Pro Purchasing Queries on YouTube.

Here’s this weeks overview of the latest videos published to YouTube and iTunes on The Glenn Wolsey Show.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

Canon 40D DSLR

I went over the specifications of Canon’s 30D sucessor, the 40D. Was I excited with the announcement? That’s an understatement. I’m thrilled with the Canon 40D, it looks like a revolutionary product which I cant wait to get my hands on.

Watch Canon 40D DSLR on YouTube.

Blogging Q&A

Henning Stednitz had a page full of blogging questions somehow related to my overall blogging history. I answered almost ten questions in a detailed manner surrounding how I run this site.

Watch Blogging Q&A on YouTube.

Keep Waiting For New iPod?

Justin Brown asked if he should buy a 5th generation iPod now, or keep waiting until Apple release an updated iPod. My advice to him was if he’s happy with the current line, go ahead and buy. If there’s something he’d like to see in a future revision, keep waiting.

Watch Keep Waiting For New iPod on YouTube.

How To Install RAM In Mac Pro

I purchased an additional 2GB (2 x 1GB) RAM for my Mac Pro taking it to a total of 5GB. I made a detailed video on how easy and painless it is to upgrade the RAM in your pro Apple tower.

Watch How To Install RAM In Mac Pro on YouTube.

Apple Pro Line Updates Soon

I answered Darrell’s questions regarding Mac Pro and Apple Cinema Display updates in the near future. He’s saved up $8,000 so far toward a new pro machine. I recommended him to wait for Mac Pro updates in November (estimate), while purchasing used/refurb Apple Cinema Display’s to complete the setup.

Watch Apple Pro Line Updates Soon on YouTube.

Have any questions for me to add to the queue? Feel free to send me an email.

Here’s this weeks overview of the latest videos published to YouTube and iTunes on The Glenn Wolsey Show.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

iPhoto 08 Feature Overview

I go over a few new iPhoto 08 features I like the look of. Not a full review, just a few features which are important in the latest release. What’s at the top of my list? Events, a whole new way to organize and view your images, I can have some fun with this.

Watch iPhoto 08 Feature Overview on YouTube.

iWeb Adsense Integration

I went over my single favorite iWeb 08 feature, the seamless iWeb Adsense Intergration. Apple allow you to sign up for a Google Adsense account from right within iWeb, then you can drag, drop, and resize Google ads on the fly. Perfect for any new web publisher.

Watch iWeb Adsense Integration on YouTube.

Mouse For Graphic Designer

Jordan Green asked about decent mouse options for a graphic designer. I recommended the Logitech MX Revolution which is my personal mouse of choice. Why the Logitech MX Revolution? Complete with five buttons, it’s the perfect mouse if you’d like to customize functions. For example, I have one of the side buttons controlling the CD tray on my Mac Pro, while the button on top of the mouse hides applications with one touch.

Watch Mouse For Graphic Designer on YouTube.

Dot Mac Thoughts

Clay Carson asked for my views on Apple’s $99 per year .Mac web service. I’ve been a .Mac user for two years now, two things have kept me with the service Chris Pirillo described as a “colossal waste o’ money” - the seamless syncing between two or more Mac’s, and the email service.

Watch Dot Mac Thoughts on YouTube.

Have any questions for me to add to the queue? Feel free to send me an email.

I want to showcase weekly videos on The Glenn Wolsey Show without embedding each clip into a separate blog post. The solution? A post every weekend showing what was produced from Monday to Friday, some weeks you might see two videos, others you might see ten.

In addition to checking out what has been produced each week here, you can subscribe to the show on YouTube, or iTunes.

Aperture Image Management

Tom asked a question regarding how he should be managing his folder structure within Apple’s professional image management tool Aperture. I run him through how I am managing projects, folders, and smart albums using iShowU, a screen-casting application.

Watch Aperture Image Management on YouTube.

Quality Speakers On A Budget

Bryan Muller was looking for some good quality speakers for his Mac Pro on a budget. I recommend Altec Lansings FX6021 system which I just picked up as an addition to my system. I too found my new Mac Pro lacked one element, a good sound system. The Altec Lansing FX6021 speakers provide superb bass and treble levels, and ships with a nifty desktop controller and wireless remote control.

Watch Quality Speakers On A Budget on YouTube.

Where To Buy RAM

Jakob Wells asked where’s the best place to purchase RAM for his Mac. For Mac RAM, I choose MacSales or Transintl. I’ve purchased from both in the past, and would recommend MacSales between the two. Superb support, quick shipping times, and lifetime warranty on RAM. Not much more you could wish for.

Watch Where To Buy RAM on YouTube.

Have any questions for me to add to the queue? Feel free to send me an email.

When iTunes 4.9 was released, podcasts were exposed to a large potential audience. I subscribed to dozens. Since then, I’ve followed the podcasting industry at a distance over the past few years.

It didn’t take long before the podcasts I subscribed to slowly dwindled off my subscription list due to many contributing factors. I eventually came to a point where I didn’t listed to any at all.

Recently I’ve revived my listening habits and now have a few favorite shows I eagerly await updates to daily, weekly, and monthly.

Macbreak Weekly

MacBreak Weekly is run by Leo Laporte and the team over at TWIT is a weekly show highlighting the best of the weeks happenings in the Mac world.

I thoroughly enjoy listening to the well educated Merlin Mann each week, spilling the latest productivity and workplace tips. I’ve been a listener to MacBreak Weekly since week one, overall it’s my favorite Mac radio show.

The Talk Show

Recently launched, The Talk Show is hosted by John Gruber and Dan Benjamin, both long time Mac fanatics. John Gruber, the more well known of the two is author of the popular Daring Fireball read by over 40,000 on a daily basis.

I still haven’t exactly figured out what the general topic of The Talk Show is, as with each episode, a new topic is explored. In the most recent episode John and Dan are talked about punctuation, while the previous episode they had guest James Duncan Davidson, Apple & O’Reilly Media event photography on the show talking photography.

The Chris Pirillo Show

I only recently discovered Chris Pirillo through my good friend Michael Yurechko. For those who don’t know (like I didn’t), Chris is a former employee of G4 media. He now runs a personal blog, company blog, video show, and broadcasts a 24/7 “lifestream” directly out of his office.

The Chris Pirillo Show is something Chris does multiple times daily, comprising of short 3-10 minute video clips he records from reader questions in his live chat or email inbox, he spends time answering these over video helping people out.

The clips are short, relevant, interesting, and full of knowledge. Chris is a joy to watch in front of the camera and his humerous personality makes for an interesting show. Chris inspired me to start my personal community video show, The Glenn Wolsey Show. (iTunes).

Inside Aperture

As an avid amatuer photographer who loves to get out in the field and shoot, one aspect of photography I find myself struggling through in lack of enthusiasm is post production..that was until I discovered Aperture, Apple’s one stop application for “after the shoot.”

The Inside Aperture podcast is produced by the guys from the Inside Aperture blog over at O’Reilly Media. The infrequent and un-scheduled show has had interviews with pro photographers, and conversations from within the Apple HQ with their Aperture product manager, Joe Schorr.

The Inside Aperture podcast is highly recommended to anyone who runs Aperture, I’m always left with a feeling of inspiration as the show winds down.

Additionally…

Notably, a few other favorites inside iTunes include Diggnation, The MacApper Podcast, The Nick Danforth Show, and This Week In Tech.

What podcasts or video shows do you enjoy or subscribe to?

I’ve had a few requests to change a little of the formatting for The Glenn Wolsey Show. Two of the requests were to get the show a proper RSS feed, and enable the show to be subscribed to via iTunes.

I immediately went on a search to find out the easiest and most cost effective way to get the show on iTunes and have a permanent online archive of the episodes. My search ended when I stumbled across Blip.TV. I’ll be uploading each show recorded both to Blip.TV and YouTube. Blip.TV will push the content through iTunes and the RSS feed, while YouTube will allow people to view the clips within their web browser and leave comments on the episodes.

On another note, a recording schedule. I’m aiming to push out one of these videos each weekday time permitting, starting this week.

Subscribe Through iTunes.
Subscribe Through YouTube.

I’ve finally managed to get my feet of the ground and launch the video show I’ve been talking about for a few weeks now.

My main goal with this show is to involve you, the community, in the general art of content creation. I’ll be creating videos from user submitted questions. That means if you have a basic (or advanced) question you want advice on, you can email it to me and should see a video appear in the near future on your topic of choice.

I see this as an excellent way for me to become more connected with my readers, and now viewers. I believe content creation has become a little stale recently, something excellent community interaction could, and can change. I currently have three videos online. The intro video, a video showing off my office, and a video answering a reader question on whether the iMac is a safe buy at the moment.

I’d also like to make a quick shout out to Kiro who created the excellent video intro to the show using Apple’s professional tool Motion. I know Kiro spent many hours perfecting it, and it shows. Thanks!

Lets get the ball rolling, send me any questions you want answered to glennwolsey@mac.com and I’ll add them to the queue.

Subscribe on Vimeo, or subscribe to the show RSS feed.

Remember the media player called yFlicks I blogged about a while back? Many Tricks Software have released an update to the application, taking it to version 2.0.

yFlicks is a full-blown movie manager used for organizing your precious home movies, clips downloaded from the web, and so on. It makes finding and watching a movie quick a quick and easy task — without having to import it into your movie manager’s database first and worrying about how to get rid of it afterwards.

If you’re the type of person who loves browsing digital media on YouTube, the video section on Digg or just the general web, this application is designed to fit seamlessly into your workflow to watch, store, and organize video clips.

Performance is very smooth when playing videos, it can get a little sluggish when important clips (as it did when I imported over 350 videos from my external LaCie drive). The interface is very clean and Apple iLife like, collections and playlists reside on the left while video thumbnails are displayed to the right.

According to the Many Tricks blog they are working on “the most intelligent tagging mechanism you have ever seen” for a future update after endless requests for tag support in yFlicks. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us with this supposed mind breaking feature.

I really like yFlicks as now I no longer have videos scattered around my various drives and throughout my system, everything is in one convenient location which can easily be accessed thanks to the Library. I now have iTunes for music, iPhoto and Aperture for images, and yFlicks for shorter media files.

There’s not too much more I could wish for from this application, first time around I found a few faults which have been cleaned up and improved in this version. Looking down the path, I’m excited to see what this “exciting tag feature” has in store.

yFlicks 2.0 costs around $18 USD (15 Euros) and is a free upgrade for registered users of the first version.