Mac App Store

I am trying to keep this as a tech related blog.
So I need to refrain from writing about how awesome slash exhausting slash awesome (again) having our second daughter join us has been. Perhaps I’ll let myself off the hook on that later, but for now I will get focused on 1) keeping this blog nerdy and 2) getting back to blogging on a regular basis.
As for #2 - all of the tech bloggers I follow inspire me. However, I sometimes forget that is what they do for a living - I am devoting my free time. Regardless, I want to get back to writing occasionally, so here we go.

Since I had last written a lot has happened. One biggie has been the introduction of the Mac App Store (MAS from here on out) within the Mac operating system (OS X).
I don’t know too many people who have gotten anywhere near as excited about this as I have, so let me take a few minutes to explain why I dig it so much.

When the iPhone came out it was a phone, iPod, and full mobile web browser. The apps and app store that we have come to understand, love and relegate to the current norm weren’t really part of the original device. I mean there were a few apps like YouTube, basic texting, and email, but it wasn’t until a year after release that the iPhone started getting third-party apps. We know how that has exploded. Most people have forgotten about how the iOS app store wasn’t originally “baked in.”

Well, spring-boarding off of the lessons that Apple learned with the evolution of iOS apps and how to distribute them effectively, they applied some of that knowledge to the Macs. There has been contention within the world of the people and businesses that already develop software for the Mac. This is due to the fact that software developers can see that they could get a greater exposure if they offer their software in the MAS, but may not 1) want to give up 30% to Apple or 2) may not have that 30% loss built into their budget.

Admittedly, I loved the true Apple geekiness that came along with being able to discover (or at least follow recommendations from other Apple geeks) third party Mac software before the MAS “opened.” When I see apps like Cinch and Caffeine on the front page of the MAS, I get a little sad that now my setup is a little less unique. But that feeling passes as I am happy that the developers are getting reimbursement and recognition that they deserve.

Having one central place to be able to find these apps is great for us users for the obvious reasons. However, another reason why I enjoy it so much is because this whole process bridges a gap for me. I am inquisitive enough that I have taken apart past PCs to update parts, but when moving back to Mac full time, it was due to a change in mindset that basically said, “okay, I am done tweaking stuff like hard drives and RAM and trying to get Windows to run faster - I just want stuff to work.” If you go to an extreme, then you may have to give in to a closed down system - Apple is known for being closed, but it is because to be able to support their products as well as they do, then they cannot open the system up too much. With the MAS, Apple can now open things up a little bit yet still have enough control that they can fully support their hardware. With this ‘opening up,’ a Mac user can have a personalized, unique system and still get an efficient machine.

I dig the MAS and I think that those of you who have Macs ought to really check it out. There are a lot of really good apps in there, and relatively inexpensive. When you get those smaller companies (or even individuals) developing applications, remove the need for packaging, shipping, marketing, etc. you can really get the price of software down. There is even quite a few free applications in there.

Presentation Graphics in Action

Recently, I sent out an email to friends and coworkers. It was a request for feedback concerning the best and worst presentations that they have been in the audience for.
It is the main part of my current position, and in order to continue to grow in that field, I wanted to gather as many examples of "what works" and "what doesn't" as I could.
So, basically, I said what lectures, presentations, conferences, etc. particularly stick out in your mind? Why do you remember them? Were there any graphics? Is there a recorded version out there somewhere?

It is still early, but I have gotten some good feedback.
In response to one of those friends, I included examples of some of my recent work. I would love to get these videos more views than they currently have, so I thought I would post here as well.

General Ray Johns gave this presentation at a conference for the Airlifter/Tanker Association - the largest conference that his command, Air Mobility Command, is associated with. The audience was probably 1500-2000 people.

It is broken into parts due to YouTube's restrictions, but please check it out when you have time!

Note that Gen Johns does not use a teleprompter or even a confidence monitor.

If you have feedback or examples of presentations that you have found to be memorable or outstanding, please let me know!

Prezi

Not too long ago, my awesome wife, Kara, forwarded on a cool website / presentation application to me. It is called Prezi.

Prezi provides a different take on presentation graphics. Instead of the standard linear approach that PowerPoint or Keynote slide presentations take, Prezi provides what can best be described as an infinitely large whiteboard. This whiteboard allows you to plop down text and images* easily so that you can arrange them in cool and creative ways. When presenting the material, you can interact with the canvas, zooming out to get the big picture or zooming in and around to individual pieces. And this is where the magic of prezi happens. Now, instead of bullet points to create contextual hierarchy, you can move the “camera” in creative ways to really emphasize the relationship between the pieces of subject matter.

For example, if you wanted to present that flour, sugar, eggs, butter, chocolate chips and baking soda are ingredients for your awesome chocolate chip cookies. In slide form you may have a heading of Cookies and a 6-bullet list of the items; in prezi, you might have the word “cookie” centered on the screen and, with one click, your camera zooms into the “c” to reveal “flour” in text that was previously too small to see; then smoothly animate over to the first (zoomed in) “o” to show the next ingredient; and so on.
Tough to describe verbally, but what happens is that you now have this subtle visualization of how those ingredients are contained within the cookie. if you start with jumping through the list of ingredients, then at the end, zoom out to reveal the word “cookie.”

I’m not gonna lie, the eye-candy quality of it all is really amazing as well. Because prezi is based in Flash, the author can create in vector-based imagery - this is what allows you to zoom in and out to extremes without the text and images* from getting fuzzy like you would normally see if you zoom in really tight on a digital photograph. I keep throwing in that dang asterik (*) after the word “images” because for this scaling effect to work perfectly, you need to have vector-based images. Granted, you can import photos and videos, but when you start scaling things in an extreme way, you are going to run into problems - but maybe we are getting a little too in-depth here.

Here is a project I worked on for Balihoo.com. They were interested in prezi, but didn’t really know how/where to start and I was able to help. The ultimate guidance was to turn an existing web page that  into a prezi presentation that could be embedded into their site. Here is the proposed version that I created. Please understand that the final piece may be a little different, but I am excited to share the piece I created. You can move around the canvas, but to get the full story, you just need to click through using the provided navigation arrows.

Balihoo Microsites [Proposed] on Prezi

Prezi has more than one million subscribers in business, education, and the arts. Headquartered in San Francisco and with an office in Budapest, Prezi, Inc., is backed by Sunstone Capital and The Sapling Group. For additional information about Prezi, visit www.prezi.com.

Creative Screenwriting Podcast

So, I hate to do another “podcast recommendation” post, but I have had a blog block (“blogock”?) lately with regard to subject matter. So, getting back to basics, I did a quick scan of what my daily routines include that might be worthy of sharing. This morning, I was inspired by a podcast that has become a favorite.

Now before I get into the details of today’s recommendation, I feel obligated to take a step back to give a general overview of what podcasts are all about. (If you are familiar with podcasts, then skip down and start reading after the “Creative Screenwriting” image.)

Technically, a podcast is a non-streamed webcast. A webcast is an audio or video broadcast that is accessed and transmitted via the internet. The non-streamed part means that these media files can be downloaded and listened to and/or viewed at your discretion.

In layman’s terms, a podcast is a free audio or video show that can be done by anyone that has a microphone, video camera (if necessary), a computer, and the ability to house the media files online somewhere. Due to this fact, you can find podcasts ranging from an extremely specific topic by some guy recording out of his home office to highly-produced podcasts by major companies and media outlets. You can listen to a podcast in a few ways. One of the most popular ways is to find a podcast you like in the iTunes Store (searching by subject), then download individual episodes OR ‘subscribe’, which means that when that podcast has a new episode, your iTunes will automatically download it to your computer. From there you can listen to the podcast on your computer or transfer it to your iPod, iPhone and iPad to be viewed or listened to when you want. Alternatives to iTunes are Podcast Alley, JuiceReceiver and Podcast.net - a simple online search should help you find more if needed.

Podcasts are not limited to Apple devices, though the “pod” in podcast may confuse some. Not being completely educated on the subject, I believe that the term may have originally been a nod to the iPod due to the fact that the media form was pushed forward by the environment that the iPod and iTunes provided. However, since other mobile devices and access via your personal computer (no matter what brand or operating system) are able to take advantage of the medium, it seemed a bit unfair that all of these ‘non-streamed webcasts” were inadvertently pro-Apple due to the term. (Not unlike how the name brand Kleenex® has taken over all forms of facial tissue.) Webcast is a synonymous term, but has never really had the momentum that podcast had, so the tech population compromised by saying “no, no, no, POD cast does not refer to the Apple iPod, it is short for “Personal On Demand broadCAST.” Regardless of this extremely controversial history (not really), I hope that this sheds some light for my friends and family that don’t know much about this medium. Now on to today’s recommended podcast, Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s podcast.

Am I a screenwriter? No.

Do I have desire to eventually one day write a screenplay? No.

So, why the interest in a podcast that what would seemingly be about a pretty specific subject?
In the past, I had come to appreciate podcasts that support the television shows I watch like Grey’s Anatomy, where the podcast did not necessarily recap the show, but interviewed the producers and writers to expand the viewers’ understanding of the show. Whether it be details that I may have missed or a stronger explanation of why the writers chose to do something the way that they did, I definitely came to appreciate the screenwriting process.

Creative Screenwriting takes these qualities that I enjoy so much and applies them to feature length movies (old and new) as well as some television shows - anything that has a screenwriter on staff is eligible.

The host, Jeff Goldsmith, is a really good interviewer in that he is always very well-informed; but more than that, you can easily feel his sincere enthusiasm. The standard format for a show is that an interview is performed with the writer(s)/actors/producers of a movie immediately after a screening of that movie. The interview usually includes some personal history of the interviewees, then the details of the specific movie. That is the basic format, but there are instances, like the podcast covering “Once” in which the musicians of the movie played some music live and had back stories about each song. Needless to say, this and other podcasts have entertained and educated me. But more importantly, I have a much greater respect for the process of writing movies and television shows.

I highly recommend this podcast - even if it is something you might not subscribe to - you can at least go to iTunes and look for some of your favorites movies and shows. Here is a link to the podcast within iTunes.

The Moth Podcast

One of these days, I will go over podcasts in a more general sense - with those who don’t really even understand the term “podcast” in mind.
For now, I want to highlight a podcast that I just recently got into. It is called The Moth Podcast, and it is the on-demand audio vehicle for the bigger not-for-profit storytelling organization, The Moth.

From their web site:
The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch. After moving to New York, George missed the sense of connection he had felt sharing stories with his friends back home, and he decided to invite a few friends over to his New York apartment to tell and hear stories. Thus the first "Moth" evening took place in his living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs and has brought more than 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members.


Lately, due to the combination of what is going on with my work and the need for new things to listen to during my commute, I have been listening to audiobooks and podcasts dealing with screenwriting and storytelling. The Moth is a great example of one of these podcasts. When boiled down, it is a fascinating way to learn peoples’ stories as well as reflect upon how one would structure and present stories of his or her own life.

The most recent (8/2/2010) installment by Andrew Solomon was incredibly moving. I would summarize, but could not do justice to the story or the storytelling. Another thing I like about The Moth is that the stories are usually around 15 minutes long, so you do not need to commit a big chunk of time to listen and enjoy.

As mentioned at the top, I will go over podcasts in general sometime soon - for now, The Moth might be a great way to get introduced to how they work. One good thing about this is that podcasts are readily available for Mac and non-Mac users alike!

I hope you enjoy The Moth. If you have other suggestions, please leave them in the comments section.

1Password

I love recommending apps, tips and tricks with regard to Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV. I am also the kind of guy that worries about being reputable, so I am just as worried when I make recommendations because “what if they don’t like it as much as I do?! (gasp!)”

Today, I cast aside my worry. There is a chance that some may not need this or use it to the extent that I do, but this application is my longest-running favorite application for Mac (it has complimentary iPhone & iPad apps, as well). The application is 1Password for the Mac, by Agile Web Solutions.

There are a handful of other similar applications and the Mac even has built-in functionality with Keychain Access, but I got 1Password a couple of years ago and have never really tested the others out because it fit the bill and has evolved over time. I use 1Password (currently version 3.3.0) for 2 main things: secure passwords & secure data. I continue to use 1Password because of the ease it allows me to use the web, the ability to securely have my information available to me, the continued support that the software developer provides, and the peace of mind that all of these allow.

So, here the gist of it for those who are completely in the dark about what I am talking about. Maybe you have some sort of notebook, spreadsheet, napkin, whatever that you use to keep track of all of those logins, passwords, serial numbers, etc. Perhaps you just kind of use the same two or three moderately complex passwords for passwords every time you register on a web site; or maybe you step that up a little and use slight variations of those two or three standards. You are well aware of the security concerns with regard to your personal data - either you hear about it from work or in the media, or, if you are relatively computer-illiterate, then you have a built-in paranoia about putting anything on your computer, much less the internet. Underlying all of those concerns, just managing the passwords you do have can be frustrating (ie. paging through that notebook for the right one or not being sure if your spreadsheet is current.) Even though sites are able to help you if you forget your password, the process can be just a frustrating (but, for the sake of security, we kind of need it to be, right?)

1Password has helped me tremendously because I can have it create some crazy JEpd&@03jk0z!€{_ type of password for a banking site that I access, whether it be once a month or three times a day. It can create, store, auto-fill, and update the passwords for online sites as I need. Then, in case I am not on my Mac, I can have a secure vault on my iPhone, via the 1Password for iPhone app. Yes, I may have to type crazy password in now and again, but 1) I know it is safe and 2) I always have it available to me (note: even if I don’t have my phone, there are other, more in-depth ways of doing this). 1Password easily integrates itself into Safari and Firefox browsers, so much of my secure browsing and internet use can be done within 1 or 2 clicks
Outside of web browsing, there are numerous ways to use 1Password. I can keep personal data securely in one place. I am not great with remembering numbers, so whether I have bank account numbers that I need to use once in awhile or need my daughter’s social security number for whatever reason, I can have it all - even locked under a couple of passwords, depending on how secure it needs to be. I can keep track of software registration numbers (and even attach receipts to that file), personal notes, a home inventory in case of disaster, securely shop online and more. I just looked over the current web site and there are even more ways that I could leverage 1Password in my daily routines.

Agile Web Solutions has been very good concerning updates, whether they are adding functionality, continually ensuring that the software is as secure as it can be, or making sure the software works in concert with all of the updates to OS X. The updates are quick and simple when they do come, as well.

1Password is $39.95 for a single license / $69.95 for a family license(5 users). There is also a trial version as well. The accompanying iPhone app is currently $9.99.

Presentation Graphics

When a graphic design student is in school, s/he is usually trained in all of the Adobe Creative Suite applications (like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver and a handful of others) when dealing with digital media. Various schools go in o varying depths when teaching these tools. Underlying all of this are classes on 2D design, drawing, painting, sculpture and a few other fine arts.

Though I have had jobs that followed a more traditional path of what that training leads to, I am currently work as a graphic designer who’s primary job is developing presentation graphics. That may just seem like a fancy way to say that I make PowerPoint decks, but I would candidly say that what I help develop is at a level that is higher than the standard. Understanding how PowerPoint has historically been mis-used, measuring oneself as “higher than the standard” doesn’t really say a whole lot.

It is funny to think that, prior to working for my current company, I had NEVER opened up MS PowerPoint. Even when I took a required class in MS Office, we used Word, Excel, (and even Access), but no PPT - I have no idea why it was like this - it just was. As I had mentioned earlier, the graphic design / art curriculum doesn’t see PPT as a design tool, so I had no exposure there. Jobs prior to this one didn’t even have MS Office installed on the computers I work on. So it was a bit of a shock to move to a position where such a huge quantity of work is communicated through PPT slides. Daily / weekly / monthly meetings, org charts, office communications and protocol, were all passed around in PPT files. In this corporate world, I stepped in as a “graphics guy” and this meant something completely different to everyone there than it did to me. I needed to get spun up quickly, and in hindsight it wasn’t too difficult. Graphics tools are similar enough that one who is well-verse in one, can quickly see the similarities and work out the differences. But the use of these tools was different enough that it became the focus of my adaptation.

At the core of all of this, I came to the realization of something that gave me a completely new perspective on where my career could lead. I realized that designers are either not acclimated to applications like PPT or Keynote as foundational training or just look at this type of work to be “beneath them.“ The people that use PPT on a daily basis - salespeople, marketers, the military, etc. usually don’t have training in design. Bringing a designer’s perspective to the use of PPT (visual communications) allows this medium to be taken to a higher level. This is not rocket science here, nor is this brand new information. I am just explaining my observations - it was one of those things that, at the time, ”I didn’t know what I didn’t know.“ I have since found an incredible community that is made up of people like Nancy Duarte, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Garr Reynolds, Dave Gray, Dan Pink and others (many of who’s blogs are located in my ”Current Favorite Blogs“ over there on the right.)

I highly suggest that people take a look at what these communicators have to say. If you are a designer, you will find new ways of communicating. If you are not a designer, you will get an inside look at how some incredibly creative communicators come up with the stuff that they do. No matter who you are, if you look around enough you will be inspired either by the processes that these people use as well the content that they present.

Here is a cool example of something I found inspiring. It is not PPT or Keynote, but it is definitely clearly communicated information. The visualization came after the spoken content, but it adds value in my opinion.